An Answer to All
by MidgetWarlord
Summary: This is a story about Ashley, a Marine who finds herself in the world of a video game she played as a child! She ends up struggling to survive in the world that just finished a war. Thankfully, she left a world that was still deep in war. Its my first story, it's not great, but I don't think its bad... Tell me of ANY AND ALL ERRORS YOU FIND! I will fix them.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so, anybody reading this, know that recently my phone, which has- err, had… all my stories on it, but some one locked me out…. Well, long story short… my phone was erased and I lost everything. It have me an option to Restore my files. Well… it only restored my "Complete shit" and "Embarrassing" Stories. Not that I had very many good stories, but I actually liked some of them, and I'm not happy right now. I was sort of looking for an excuse to write this story… and now I have one, so that's good.**

 **However, because this is the first actual story I will upload, know that I'm still getting things figured out with the site and everything. I was also thinking of doing this story a bit differently than other authors do. I will post these first 2 chapters, then I will wait about a week before posting the rest of them. There is a reason that I am only posting the first 2 right now, and if you happen to read to the end of the second, you'll find out why. The reason I will post all of them at the same time, is so that you guys can leave comments about errors. And I mean, ALL errors, spelling, grammar, plot problems such as a character knowing another's name before actually being told in the story. I'm also taking an Honors English class this year, so maybe I'll get better at writing. Well, the grammar and spelling side would, not the plot or anything, but I am noticing massive improvement in these. Anyways, try to enjoy the story, and give me feedback! Thanks!**

It was early summer, and it was always warm. It was late at night, but it was still warm. The citizens of Warfang would have been comfortable with the temperature, had it not been raining. Cold rain wasn't bad, but warm rain? The varied Inhabitants did not like it, so every one was in a fairly sour mood. Every one, but Ashley….

Ashley looked down at her watch.

"Damn, it's already 1 in the morning, do any of these things ever sleep?" she said to herself. She had been watching a small rectangular building, which had one window and a large wooden door. There was a soft glow emitting from the window, as well as some loud voices.

From what she had seen in her observations of this small village, which was located outside of a larger city with a massive wall, was that this was probably the local Tavern, or something similar.

Her current plan was to get any information she could, because if movies had taught her anything, it was that the best place for Rumors and Information was at the Local Bar, or in this case, and old tavern in the smallest village she had seen in her time here.

She slowly stood up from her spot, laying on the roof, and stretched her sore and stiff muscles. She finished, and took one more look around, just to make sure there weren't any other Creatures watching, and dropped of the edge of the building.

She noticed instantly the rain and mud. She had known it was raining, because she could hear it's soft piter-pater on the ground and the buildings around her. However, she hadn't felt it because there was a large tree growing next to the house she was on, and the branches, full of leaves, reached over the roof she was on. The other reason she had chosen that spot was because she had seen some sort of flying creatures around.

The kid part of her brain was excited when she thought of them as dragons, but the Soldier/Adult part told her that it wasn't possible and to stay hidden.

However, now, she realized she might just meet one tonight, as she needed the information, and urgently. She had been living in a forest for the last 5 weeks, trying to survive. But she was out of food. She still had plenty of ammo to hunt with, but recently, the only creatures she could find to hunt were to Humanoid for her to kill.

"I still have a conscience" She told herself the first time she ran into one of the Cheetah creatures that still walked on two legs, talked, and used tools.

She pushed the memories from her mind, and brought herself back to the current task. She stepped forward, and it was met with a loud splash. She looked down at a large puddle, with large ripples moving in the puddle. She made a mental note to watch out for the puddles, because if she needed to run, wet equipment would slow her down.

She stepped to the edge of the building, and peered around it. The street was dimly lit by the moon, but she saw nothing. She took a deep breath, and moved into the street, towards the door of the Tavern. She made it too the door, and realized she was holding her breath. She was waiting for an alarm to be raised. She breathed again, and started saying to herself,

"This isn't an active warzone, it's a village." She breathed deeply 3 more times, and steadied herself. She suddenly became angry with herself, whispering fiercely,

"I am a Soldier! I became a Soldier in a world no one wanted me too! Why am I scared here?! I even have Superior weaponry!"

She filled with confidence, and reached for the door. She stopped herself. She realized she was unknowingly going in, prepared she shoot up the place. She calmed, and as she calmed, the fear came back, but not as bad as before.

She opened the door.

She was hit instantly by a wave of warmth, light, and Smells.

She walked in.

The voices stopped slowly, as every eye turned on her. She noted the number of creatures inside, and the type. There were 17 total: 3 Dragons, 2 half her height, and one about 7 inches taller than her, there were 6 Mole-Like Creatures, and 8 Cheetahs. The only ones armed in the building was the Cheetah behind the counter, and 3 Moles had Swords and half armor.

The Cheetah behind the counter raised his hand, and pointed at her.

"Who are you?" He demanded. Ashley lowered the Bandana that covered her face. She was the Cheetah frown, then he spoke with anger, "Apes are not welcome here!"

Ashley flinched, then walked forward, saying, "I'm here for some… information."

She continued to walk towards the counter as he spoke, "Like I said before, Apes are NOT welcome here."

She reached the counter, and set down, saying calmly, "Well, then it's a good thing I'm NOT an ape. Now, how about a drink?"

"If your not an ape, then what are you?"

"That doesn't matter, right now, I need some Information, as well as food if you have any."

He stopped and thought a moment, then she noticed as something behind her caught his eye. She turned around to see what it was, and saw one of the Moles in armor run out the door.

"Wonder why he's in such a hurry." She said in an uninterested voice. The mole she was talking to laughed slightly. She turned and looked at him, with a slightly confused face.

"What's so funny?"

The mole looked up and said, "Eh, not much. That mole was apart of the City Guard. He's probably gone to go warn the others."

"Hm" she shrugged if off, and then said, "So, how about some information, or maybe some food?"

The mole stopped and considered it for a moment. He then spoke in a cheery voice, smiling,

"For a girl, you've got a lot of courage."

"Excuse me? You sayin' a girl can't be brave?"

"No, just that it's uncommon. Anyways, I don't have any food for ya, but I can get you a drink." And with that, he turned and grabbed a small cup and filed it with some sort of dark liquid. He set it in front of her, and she took a drink of it, hoping it wasn't Alcohol. It tastes sweet, and warmed her body. It reminded her of Hot Chocolate.

"So, what is this place?" she asked.

"oh, so your not from around here. Well, the big city with the wall is called Warfang. It's the City of the Dragons, home of Spyro and Cynder. Not that it-" but she cut him off, asking,

"Who are Spyro and Cynder?"

"Wow, you really have no clue about this place, well, uh…" he struggled for words for a moment, then spit out, "The saviors of our world."

"Sounds like you don't like them much. What's it about 'em? Snotty? Rich? Or just plain assholes?"

"No, it's nothing like that! They are a real nice couple, helpin every one out all the time, and they really did save our world! The problem is that they are real Humble about it, and they don't like being called Saviors and stuff, and so most of us don't like it either."

She was entirely surprised by his response, and stared at him a moment, just to make sure he wasn't covering up something. But she saw in his eyes complete honesty, and motioned for him to continue his description of the area.

"Anyways, the City of Warfang is not known for its kindness to Apes."

"Why? What did the apes do?"

"They assisted The Dark Master in trying to destroy the world."

"Why the hell would they do that? Don't they realize they live on thee same planet as you guys do?"

She saw a new light of respect in the Mole's eyes as she said those words. And as she looked around, and saw the same thing in all the other Creatures across the room.

"Well, I don't know why, but he was defeated. The only problem is that the apes are still… well… still a problem."

"What are they doing?"

"They are runnin' around in large groups, attacking villages, Trading Caravans, Farms, and the like. That's why that Mole ran to get other guards, they'll probably try to take you and get information out of you."

She smiled and said, "Well, I should probably get ready then."

"Ready for what?" The mole asked.

"To defend myself."

The mole opened his mouth to say something, but the door was thrown open before he could.

"You there, Ape!"

She flinched again at being called an ape. She slowly turned around to face the Creature. She saw 4 Moles in full armor and large swords standing at the door, and she figured there were more outside, as she could see movement outside the single window.

"I… Am…. Not…. An Ape." She said slowly, and clearly.

"Ha! Like hell you aren't! Take it down, boys!" he yelled, and all 4 moved forward.

"Y'all better stop, right now, or your gona get hurt." She warned. They did not stop, and she looked at the Mole behind the Counter, who shrugged.

"On well" Ashley said, drawing her Pistol and pointing it at the attackers. She fired 3 times, purposely hitting only their legs. The leader stopped, stunned by what happened. He looked at her, just as she drew a large sword from a scabbard at her hip. The sword was slightly curved, and nearly 3 feet long.

"I'll take care of you in a fair way…. Well, a little more fair anyways." She said, then brought the sword down at the mole, who brought his own up just in time to block her attack. The mole staggered backwards, and recovered. Just not in time.

Her fist hit the Mole on the nose, disorienting it. She swept her leg under the Mole, sending it falling to the floor. It landed with a solid thud. The only movement that came from the mole was the slight rising and falling of its chest.

She did not have time to do anything, as she heard shouts from the door, "The ape killed him!"

She looked up and lost all control of her anger, and yelled, "I AM NOT A FUCKING APE!" and jumped at the mole.

She hit the mole in the stomach with her knee, then swung around and hit it with her Elbow. The mole fell, unconscious as well as their Leader inside the Tavern. She turned and saw 6 more Guards, 5 Moles and 1 Dragon. The moles had full armor, and had medium sized, two sided swords. The Dragon was a light red, with a dark orange Underbelly and Wings, with a slightly darker orange for its Horns. It was also clearly the most respected of the remaining guards, as the others looked at it asking what to do.

"Should we take it down?" one asked, and the Dragon replied in the voice of a 25-some year old man,

"Well, it has attacked Harry and the Commmander…. Yes, take it down! But don't kill it."

But before anyone could move, she said, "Did you ever think that maybe they attacked me? And that I was defending myself?"

At that, they all stopped moving, and the Red Dragon said, "What? That makes no sense, why wouldn't you just go with him?"

"Because I've done nothing wrong."

At that, he made a slight snorting noise and the other guards laughed.

"No ape is innocent, you've all done-"

"Let me stop you right there. I'm not an ape. I'm a human. And if any of you call me an ape again, I'll knock you on your ass." She said, in a very serious voice. All the guards stopped laughing for a moment, and then, all but the Dragon, started laughing harder.

"What are you gona' do, Ape? There are 6 of us, and ONE of you."

She simply smiled and shook her head slowly, and said, "I warned you…"

At a second glance at the Dragon, she noticed that the Dragon was actually considering what she said.

She darted toward the one that spoke, and cut his leg once and round-house kicked it in the face. The others watched, wide-eyed, as the mole flew backwards and landed on its back. The sound of the impact sent the rest of them into action, moving to surround her.

She waited for one to strike at her. Waited, Waited, And waited, as they circled her. Finally, one took a stab at her, but she flicked the sword away with ease. The mole, not expecting resistance, lost his balance and fell forward. Ashley side-stepped to the right, and stuck her foot out and tripped the mole. He fell face down in the mud, and before anyone could comprehend it, Ashley hit the mole with the hilt of her small sword, denting the helmet. The mole's only movement was a slight up-and-down motion of its chest.

She brought her sword up as another did a downwards strike, aimed for her head. The two blades crashed, and there was the scraping sound of metal on metal. Ashley was holding the Mole's blade up with one hand on her sword, and with her other, she landed a punch on its face. The mole staggered back, and fell.

She left it alone, ends turned to the remaining 2 moles. She wondered for a moment where the Dragon was, but she then saw it in the corner of her eye. He was simply sitting and watching from about 20 feet away.

Both moles charged her at the same time, one lunged at her, while the other brought a downward strike. She flicked one sword to the side, and spun quickly around so she was bending on one knee, holding her sword above her head, with one he behind the blade to support it. The two blades crashed, but Ashley held firm.

She slowly stood up, and pushed the mole backwards. The mole staggered, trying to regain his footing. And just as he seemed too recover, she kicked him in the face.

She turned to face the single remaining mole. She was surprised to see that the mole had already prepared, and lunged at her. She had to jump to the side carelessly to avoid the sword. She didn't get quite clear, and the sword cut her leg. It hurt, but it was the same wound as a cut you would give yourself when cutting some food for dinner, but the knife slipped.

She stood up, and ran over to the mole that was face down in the mud. It looked up just in time to see her foot speeding towards his face.

She was satisfied when the mole did not move again, and she relaxed, thinking the fight was over. Her relaxation was short-lived, because she saw that the only remaining guard was moving.

The Dragon had a face that did not portray anger, or confidence, as had the other guards. He had a look of regret, and fear.

"You don't have to fight me." Ashley said.

"I don't have a choice. If that officer wakes up and realizes I didn't at least try to fight you, I would get in a lot of trouble."

"Well, I'll try to take it easy on you then."

 **Yes, that was the end of the chapter. I'm realizing that these fighting scenes that I had all planned out in my head, are going to be much harder than I thought. Honestly, I've always thought that it was easy, but to make a detailed fight, takes A LOT more effort than I had thought. I also had specific songs in mind when I thought this up, but I've found that it's also incredibly difficult to put a song into a book… so I came up with another idea. I'll just tell you the names of the songs at the end of each chapter, let you read it first, then you can listen to the song. Then, if you want to, listen to the song and re-picture the fights. So,** **The song I had in mind for this fight scene is in the link below:**

watch?v=AkD6GxKY5z0

 **Enjoy :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, I had to republish this chapter, as I made a very big mistake. I made a chapter 4 already, before this one, and I had content in There that I thought to include into this chapter on accident. So, I am very sorry for confusion or inconvenience, and it won't happen again.**

There was one last thud heard by the Mole behind the Counter and the other creatures inside. They waited expectantly for something to happen. It was silent for some minutes, before the door was opened casually. In-walked Ashley, with the Red Dragon leaning on her, with her supporting him with her body.

They watched, bewildered, as she half carried the Dragon over to the counter, and dropped him in a chair. She then sat next to him, and looked behind her at the confused faces.

"Only a fool doesn't take a chance to make an Ally."

"But wasn't he fighting you a few minutes ago?" Said one of the creatures that were staring at her.

"Yes, he was." She replied simply, prompting another question from the crowd.

"So…. Why are you sitting with him?"

"Because I saw a chance to change his mind, he didn't want to attack me. So I'm going to help him. Besides, he might be able to help me, too."

The mole shrugged, and went back to his work.

She turned back to the dragon, who was watching her curiously.

"What's your name?" Ashley asked.

The Dragon hesitated a moment, then replied, "Alex. How do you think I can help you?" The last sentence he said with his voice full of hope, which confused Ashley.

"Why did you say that with so much hope I'm your voice?"

"Well, I guess that after my actions out there, I want to help you in anyway I can to make it up to you."

Ashley smiled at him. She already knew this was a good idea.

"Well, we could always start with a home." She said, and he nodded.

"I have a decent house, you could always stay with me."

Ashley nodded, and said, "My name is Ashley, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you Ashley."

2 weeks later

Ashley was moving through the unused sewer system that ran through the city. She used them to move around the city, and for the first few weeks, she used it to help stop criminals. There weren't many, but since the end of the war, there were more and more showing up. However, Alex convinced her to stop, and give up her fighting in General. She did not stop using the tunnels to get around, however.

She had stopped just under a room in the redesigned Dragon Temple when she heard voices. She loved to listen to conversations, but this one was different.

The voices were a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes, I've seen it with my own eyes, hundreds of apes are camped just inside the Forrest around the city."

"How did they organize so fast?"

"I don't know! But we're running out of time, we have to do something!"

There was a deep sigh.

"Well, the only option I see is to hit them with every guard we have left, and evacuate the rest of the city while they are distracted."

"But it's suicide!"

"We don't have a choice!"

It was silence for a moment, then a third voice spoke up,

"I'll get the guards ready."

There was a brief sound of receding footsteps, and silence. It was then that Ashley realized something, Alex, the dragon she had come to love over the last few weeks, was apart of the guard. Fear overtook her, and she sprinted back the way she came.

She jumped up the whole in the floor of the room Alex had told her was above the tunnel system. She heard voices in the next room, and moved to the door.

"Yea, of course I'll come with you, just give me a few minutes." She heard from the other side.

She heard a door close, and she ran out to meet Alex.

"Don't do it, Alex! It's suicide!" She said, but he ignored her, and said, "Ashley, I need you to go with them, find some way to be safe."

"What? No!"

"Ashley! I need you to promise not to come after me!"

"No, I will-"

"No! Ashley, promise me! Please."

She sighed, and whispered, "Fine, I promise."

Alex's face turned sad, as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"Good bye." He whispered and walked out the door.

She sat in silence for a few minutes, doing nothing. Then her mind woke up, and she moved instinctively. She grabbed her gun, and vest, and strapped every clip she had left to it. It amounted to 8 clips of 30 sounds each, which meant 240 rounds. She had 3 Frag Grenades as well.

If that Dragon's estimation is correct, and there are about 200 or more Apes, then I should have just enough ammunition to kill them all, she thought. Then the thought that maybe the estimation was wrong, came to her. She pushed the thought aside, and holstered her side arm. Then, she realized she wasn't counting her pistol ammo. She had nearly 67 rounds left for that, and that might be enough.

She shrugged, and moved to the door, strapping on her helmet and boots.

"Sorry, Alex, but I'm going to have to break that promise." And she opened the door.

She gasped as she saw it was now dark out, and that time she was sitting, doing nothing, was much longer than she thought. She pushed the thought away, and stepped out into the street. She did not try to conceal herself with the shadows, but ran as fast as she could down the road towards the gate. As she approached, she realized this would be the first time she had ever gone through the gate, as she used tunnels the sneak in and out.

However, to her slight disappointment, as she neared, she saw that the gate was closed. She then thought it was foolish to have thought it would be open at all, with the looming threat just outside the city.

Instead, she was forced to climb up a staircase that lead to the top of the wall, and then find a place she could climb down. She was running alongside the top of the wall, looking for a place to climb down, when she heard a voice yell,

"Hey! Who the hell are you?!"

She was confused as to why there was still a guard here, but when she looked over at the source to see an armed cheetah. The creature obviously didn't know how to use the sword he was given, so she assumed that he was acting as some sort of minute man. He was terrified and confused, but otherwise he wasn't a threat to her, so she decided to be nice and try to talk him down.

"Hey, it's ok, I'm leaving. I'm going to help the guards that left here a while ago."

"What? But you're a girl."

Ashley sighed and looked at the ground in disappointment.

Why are all of these people against girls? She thought, but then realized, at least she wasn't called an ape.

"Well, that's not an obstacle. But I'll be leaving now, so… I'll see you soon." But then whispered, "That is, if I succeed."

And with that, she continued her search on the wall. She didn't make it 5 feet before more voices rang out. Before long, there were half a dozen other armed civilians moving towards her. She interpreted it as them trying to arrest her or something, and decided to just jump where she was.

She slid down the side of the wall, moving quickly. She could see the dark shape of the ground moving towards her, and she pushed herself off the wall. She hit the ground, and rolled, narrowly missing a rock.

That rock would have knocked her out cold if she had hit it, she realized.

One of these days, I'm going to hit my head doing those fancy acrobatics or a roll, She thought to herself.

She kept moving forward, using her flashlight occasionally, but for the most part, she knew where the Ape Camp was, as she could see the smoke in the sky.

She ran for 15 minutes before finally coming near. She heard no signs of battle, which could be good or bad. She moved more carefully through the trees and bushes, making as little sound as possible. She could see the light of fires through the trees when she heard it, an immense battle cry.

She rushed forwards just in time to see two lines, one ape, and one of mixed races(from Warfang) charging each other. She noticed, with horror, that the Ape army was actually expecting them, and had already formed into a defensive formation.

I have to do something before they collide! She thought to herself, but could think of only one thing. She sighed to herself, then moved out of the shadows concealing her, and fired once.

Both sides stopped instantly, shocked by the loud noise. Heads turned as they looked for the source. Seconds later, every pair of eyes in both armies were on the figure that was now walking confidently down the middle. Both sides instantly thought she was an ape, all but one dragon, of course. The surprise came when she caught the eye of one of the Dragons in the Warfang group, and they locked eyes for a moment. She winked at the Dragon, who's face turned confused. An instant later, she turned on her heals, facing towards the Apes, and got into a battle stance.

The ape that seemed to be their Leader stepped forwards a few paces, and yelled, "Your facing the wrong way!"

"No I'm not." She replied, her voice full of confidence. Her thoughts mirrored her actions, and she was ready to fight.

The ape growled and said, "So be it."

He turned and walked back into the mass of apes. Nothing moved for a few seconds, but an apes voice called out, "Don't kill the rouge ape, I would like to make an example of it."

She realized it was the same ape that spoke before, just hidden within the crowd. 3 of the started towards her, but fell dead a mere 2 seconds later, with 3 gunshots. 4 more started towards her to try again, but there were 4 more gunshots and 4 more dead apes within seconds.

They decided a new tactic was necessary. It wasn't very complex, it involved all the apes running forward at the same time in one massive charge and battle cry.

The Warfang side saw this as a good time to do a charge of their own, but Ashley tried not to pay it much attention, and fired into the apes. She had to resist the urge to just fire erratically, and aimed for strategic spots, such as legs, shoulders, and Center mass. She used one grenade, throwing it right in front of the front line. The apes took no notice, and ran over the explosive.

The explosion sent a dozen of them flying forward, and half that backwards. The shrapnel took down about 8, and many more were knocked down. The ape charge stopped for a few moments, as the explosion had shocked them all. They recovered quickly, but not fast enough. The Warfang warriors hit the front line, and Ashley decided to join them.

She ran up behind them, and vaulted their line, surprising the Dragon she used to put her weight on and almost knocked it down. She instantly brought the but of her gun up, and hit the closest ape in the face, and firing at 4 more.

The battle is just going to jump around from here, I'll only tell about certain places. Just know that you might have to make up some of the in-between spots if you want to.

She fired at 3 more, taking them down. She risked a glance around her, to see if there was anyone that needed her. She almost didn't see it, but just as a cheetah moved out of the way, she saw it.

There was an unfamiliar Dragon, laying on its side with an ape holding a spear above its chest. She was going to just fire at it, but she calculated the time, and realized she could reach the Ape before he attacked the Dragon. She didn't want to waste a bullet of it wasn't necessary, and it would do her good in the long run to show off a little.

She ran at the Ape, and tackled it to the ground, and pulled her knife. She stabbed it once, and stood up. For extra effect, she turned and fired a few times. She looked down at the dragon, and realized that it was a pink dragoness. She also saw a look of wonder and gratitude. She didn't actually know what gratitude would look like, but something told her it was there. She put her hand out, and the dragoness slowly realized what it was for, and put her wind in her hand. Ashley pulled the dragoness up, and nodded to her before turning back to the fight.

The dragoness didn't strike Ashley as a warrior, but she was proven otherwise pretty quickly. The dragoness stayed near her the rest of the fight, killing any apes that Ashley didn't see, and helping her to kill the ones she did see.

Pretty soon, she heard the terrifying Click Click sound of her empty rifle. She slung it over her shoulder, and pulled out her side arm. She fired off a few shots, and then threw another grenade. As she tossed the heavy explosive, she realized that she was becoming very tired.

Exhausted, she corrected herself. She also then noticed the many cuts, holes, and blood that she had. Pain was all she felt at that moment. However, she powered through it. There are too many creatures counting on me, she told herself.

On the brink of complete exhaustion, she was slowing down, and her senses dulled. In the corner of her eye, she saw her worst nightmare: An Ape, above Alex, holding a large sword.

"Nooo!" She screamed, but fell as she tried to reach him. She looked up helplessly, as the Ape raised his sword.

Bam!

A gunshot? She thought to herself, who shot it? I didn't….

She was distracted by the gunshot, and didn't see as the sword fell… next to Alex. The ape fell next to his sword, dead.

Ashley stood, and looked around. The fight was almost over! There were only a few dozen left, attempting to hold off the larger Warfang Force. She filled with joy, as the tension of loosing was gone, and she felt confident.

That is, until she felt a sword being run through her. She gasped, as the sword was removed from her side. It was the same ape that had talked to her at the beginning of the battle, and he had a big smirk across his face.

"This is the punishment for traitors, you scum." He snarled, but Ashley wasn't going out like that, she decided.

She slowly stood up, and unsheathed her knife. The unsuspecting ape never saw it coming, as she drove her knife into his throat. She watched the light in his eyes fade, and released her grip. She collapsed on the ground, and waited for death, as she knew there would be no coming back from this.

She laid back her head, and looked up into the sky. She could see stars, but no moon. It was then that she felt a surge of Day' Ja' vu' (Sorry about the spelling, but that's the best I can get it) as she realized that the pain was, again, in her left side. She wondered if maybe she would wake up somewhere different again, but something told her she wouldn't.

She laid, staring at the brilliant, bright, beautiful stars.

She closed her eyes.

HOLY SHIT! IS IT OVER? OR IS IT NOT? WHO KNOWS?!

Well, of course, I know, but you don't! Ha ha! I love this feeling of knowing what's going to happen before the readers do. Now I understand why other writers do this so often! You won't have to wait long to find out… or maybe you'll and up waiting forever for another chapter… that would mean there isn't one, just in case you didn't realize that already…

BYE!


	3. Discaimer

Ok, I'm sorry I have do this with a new chapter, but I actually need to say this: I do not own any of the Spyro characters, world, or ANYTHING of the Spyro "Universe"

I also think I might need to say something about my mentioning to Terrorists. I am assuming that anyone who will read this story will take it the right way, but just in case there is some one who doesn't ...

I respect ALL the soldiers that are fighting ISIS, Taliban, etc. weather it be UN troops, or American, or French, or anyone else. I have an Uncle that is over there fighting RIGHT FUCKING NOW! So if there are any of you out there that think I don't respect them, your wrong. And if YOU disrespect them in front of me, or in my comments, I will make your day a bad one... BTW not a threat, just a warning (:

Alright, If anyone happens to actually want to use my characters, story, or anything that you all know I don't own, just tell me about it. Give me a link or something, ill read the story, and Ill give you some feedback, just like you would have given me feedback.

Again, I'm sorry I have to post a new chapter to tell you all this, I'm still trying to figure this website out, and I couldn't figure out how to edit my chapter one to put this message in. I know that there is at least one person who has read my story, so sorry if this was a tease, and I made you think there was another chapter up.

There will be another chapter on Thursday of next week. Yes, I'm dropping that "What will happen? Will there be another chapter?" Crap.

BYE!


	4. Chapter 3

**Ok, just in case some of you hadn't seen this, but I fixed chapter 2. There is more of an explanation in the beginning of the chapter, but if you haven't re-read it, it's only the last few paragraphs that were changed. Also, I know I said I would post this on Thursday, but new plans arose, so I'm posting this early.**

 **One final thing, I am still only a Sophomore in high school, and finding time to write might be difficult! I actually am taking some very difficult classes, all Honors and AP classes. If your wondering, AP stands for Advanced Placement, (In one way or another its copywrited, just so you know) and long story short, it means college level work. I am having 3 to 4 hours of homework every night, and sometimes more than that. Pretty much, the only time I have for writing is on the bus, or during lunch. So, if it just so happens that chapters don't get posted on due dates, that is why. I'll try my best to keep up the pace, but I cant make promises. Anyway, On with the chapter…**

That feeling that told her she wouldn't wake up in a different place was correct. However, not in the way you would suspect. Instead, she woke in the same clearing, about 17 feet away from where she fell during the fight.

She realized quickly that most of her wounds were gone, including her fatal wound caused by the nameless leader of the Ape army. She felt exhausted, like she had just fought, but the pain was entirely gone.

She groaned quietly, as she realized, not quite all the pain was gone. She had tried to move her leg, and that one movement set all of her muscles into an ache so bad, she felt as if her entire body was a single, aching muscle.

Within seconds of the noise she made, she heard footsteps beside her. She opened her eyes, and saw Alex's face hovering right above her. In that moment, she forgot all her pain, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and brought him into a large hug. It only lasted a minute or so before her aches came back, and she fell back to the ground with a quiet shout of pain.

"What? What's wrong?" Alex asked. Ashley replied slowly, with an obvious strain in her voice:

"My body is so tired…"

His eyes lit up, as he said, "I have a solution for that!"

He disappeared from her view for a few seconds, but she soon heard something break nearby. Within moments, she felt her energy return to her, and her aching went. Then, her energy doubled. Then tripled. She jumped up, feeling like she could sprint for a hundred miles. She suppressed the energy with great effort. It actually felt similar to suppressing a yawn, just pushing it down, while it's constantly pushing back.

"What was that?" she asked.

She looked at the ground next to Alex's feet, and saw small shards of crystals, and they were a faded color. He noticed her gaze, and looked down at the crystals.

"Oh, just a small Energy Crystal, I wasn't sure how much would be enough for your body… or too much."

"Well, I can definitely say that it was too much. I'm all Jittery and stuff." She replied.

He looked at her, confused.

"I don't know what 'Jittery' means."

She looked at him for a moment, wondering if he was telling the truth or just pulling a joke.

"Well, I guess that I also… well, Energized. Way to much. I feel like I could fight 8 more of those battles!"

Alex grinned slightly at her, and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted,

"That's the Spirit!"

She turned and saw someone she instantly disliked, The Captain of the entire City's guard, Parson(NOT Person!). She had listened to him and watched him for a few weeks, and she knew he was not a nice Mole. He was out for himself, and did everything he wanted, regardless of rules.

By the look on his face, he did not have something good in mind for her. Thankfully, Ashley not only had other plans, but a means of completing them. Meaning, she didn't care what he wanted of her, and there was no way he could force her.

He must have seen the look on her face, or something similar, because he knew what she was thinking. His mistake, was changing from a kind tactic to a straightforward, and flat out rude way of doing it.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen now, your coming back to the city with me, and your going to stay in a locked cell. And then, when ever I feel like it, you will come out, and kill some people for me. GOT IT?"

But she merely laughed in response. His face turned to anger, and he turned to Alex.

"Arrest her."

His face turned to fear, and he looked at her with unsure eyes. She looked back into his, and smiled at him with a slight nod. He was still nervous and unsure about his next decision, and it certainly surprised Ashley…

"No. I made the mistake of attacking her under your orders before, I won't do it again."

While it may have surprised Ashley, it did not disappoint her. She also knew, that his response just started an unstoppable string of events, of which, she could only attempt to predict.

Parson's face contorted with rage, and his voice dropped to a very low, and very dangerous tone.

"You had better run while you still can."

It did not faze Ashley in the slightest, and she opened her mouth to reply, but Alex covered her mouth with his wing, and spoke quietly,

"Not here, Ashley. If you fight him here, he has the advantage, he can bend the truth to his liking. Plus, moist of the guard are on his side. Let's wait for them to see our side, then we fight. Otherwise, we may have to fight every guard in the city, and the Guardians!"

She could see the reasoning behind his thoughts, but didn't quite want to give up.

"But what am I supposed to do? Let him arrest me?"

He shook his head, and said, "No, we run."

"We won't outrun dragons!"

"I can't, but you just consumed an energy Crystal! They are all going to be tired and slow. You could probably sprint the whole way there before we got a quarter of the way there."

She was doubtful, then she asked, "Wait, what do you mean by 'There'? Do you have a place we can hide?"

"The city, or course! Something is telling me that if we go there, we will have a chance to fight back."

"Are you sure?" she asked, and he nodded to her.

She shrugged, and mumbled, "Alright." And then took off towards the Crystals city again.

She realized that she had left her gun on the ground in the field. She was about to turn back for it, but realized that she was still out of ammo with it, and kept running. She was nearly to the city, when she heard sounds of pursuit.

 _A pack of bears would have been quieter_ she thought, _well, to be fair, some of them are the size of bears._

They were yelling at the gate guard to close the gate, but there were no guards on duty.

"Pft, great guards they have here." She mumbled to herself.

She sprinted right through the gates, and, through open windows and doors, she saw moles and cheetahs packing things, and getting ready to leave.

"Not very good at evacuating either."

She went right to Alex's house, and waited. Thoughts swirled around her head, and it was difficult to suppress them. Her body still surged with energy, and she was pacing around the front room, when her head snapped towards the door.

"Hello? I know your in there! I've got your Mate out here, and I think you should join us!"

There was an unmistakable note of challenge and arrogance in his voice. She sighed, and put on the best confidence face she could, and walked out the door.

"About time!" She yelled apon walking outside, "I was beginning to think I'd lost you in that Forrest!"

The entirety of the guards were around the door in a semicircle fashion, and had weapons drawn. However, she could see the same thing she saw in Alex's eyes that day they met, in their eyes. Or, at least, most of them. There were a few Moles, about 6 of them, that had the same look as Parson.

She looked at Parson, who had a sword at Alex's throat. She had a plan instantly, and called,

"Why don't you let him go, this is between you and me."

"No, it's not. It's between you, him, and all of us-" he said, gesturing to all the armed guards around her, and unintentionally, releasing Alex. He rushed over to her side, and turned back to the other guards. It was silent for a few minutes, as he looked each on in the eye. Finally, he said,

"I know the rest of you don't want to do this, and you have good reason not too. Ashley has done nothing to us, but has saved our lives!"

There was a crowd forming around them. Up until now, they were keeping their distance, but one had stepped up. It took a moment for Ashley to recognize the female cheetah that was making her way to her side, saying,

"I know this creature! She saved me from being robbed just 5 Days ago!"

The cheetah pushed her way through the semi circle of guards, who were too confused to do anything. The cheetah stopped in front of her, and smiled at her as she said,

"I've always wanted to thank you for that night, but I never had the chance. But I have the opportunity to do so now." She then turned to the crowd of guards, but before she could speak, a voice called out,

"Paula? Is that you over there?!" and another cheetah came out front. This time, it was a male cheetah dressed in chainmail armor, and a helmet with a sword in hand. She identified the cheetah instantly as a husband of the cheetah she now knew as Paula.

"Yes, it's me."

"Wha-what are you doing? Is what you said true?"

"Yes, it is. And I'm not going to let this happen."

He sighed, and said slowly, "Ok, fine. I'm with you." He then turned to Ashley, and said, "I'm with you both. I owe you for saving my mother."

She was incredibly surprised by this, but didn't let it show. She realized that Paula was actually much older than the other one. She made a mental note not to make this mistake again.

By this point, there were 5 other Moles and Cheetahs that had stepped up, all civilians. They shared one glance with each other, before a male cheetah on the far right side of the group said,

"She has saved all of us from crime, too."

From there, it was a chain reaction, as the 5 civilians moved to her side, all but 6 of the guards followed them. While almost all of them had no family that she had helped, they all felt it was safer now that they knew they weren't alone, and they all made the choice.

Now, the group of guards were at Ashley's left, right, and rear, all ready to fight. But before anything happened, Ashley pulled her sword and said to her new allies, "This is my fight, not yours." But, seeing the look in their eyes, she quickly added, "Do you think I can't handle this? You saw me earlier."

They all nodded, and reluctantly stepped back. All, but Alex of course. Ashley turned to him and said,

"I have to do this, I have to prove to this city that they can't push me around."

He said noting for a moment, but soon he subsided and said, "Giv'em hell." then walked away.

As she turned to the remaining force, she said quietly, "I plan to."

She brought her sword to a ready position, but remained silent as she tied to focus her surplus of energy.

"Kill her." Parson said. The moles surged forward at the same time, so Ashley didn't wait for them. She charged at the closest one, and took him by surprise. She sliced it across the chest once, cutting through his armor easily. The mole fell, dead, so she moved to the next on with lightning speed.

Her sword went right through the mole's stomach, and she pulled it back out, spinning on her heel to block a downward stroke from behind. She then angled her sword and moved to the right, a movement that sent the mole stumbling forward. As she moved forward, she re-angled her sword so it pointed forward again. As she moved, another mole walked in front of her.

Last mistake, she thought, as he moved right in front of her sword. The thing she didn't expect, was loosing her grip on the sword, and dropping it. As she turned back to fight the 2 moles, she saw them grin. They thought she was unarmed.

 _These guys never learn._ She thought, as she straightened her body, and pulled out her pistol.

Bam! Bam!

The two moles fell. She walked over the her sword, and picked it up after holstering her pistol again. She looked at Parson, who was glaring at her.

"Well, if you want something done, do it yourself." He said.

Ashley instantly recognized the saying, and thought it was a little strange that they had the same one here in this world. She had no time to think further about it, as the mole charged her.

She did the same movement as before, catching the sword with hers, then angling her sword so his slid off, and he stumbled forward. This time, however, she stuck her foot out and tripped him. He fell flat on his face.

He rolled over, and tried to stand, but Ashley was over him in an instant, sword at his throat.

"Give it up, your done for." She said. His eyes were full of fear, but after a few seconds of silence, he seemed to notice something behind her that made him smile.

"Ashley! Roll left! NOW!" She heard Alex yell, and rolled left. Mid roll, she also stuck her sword out, cutting Parson's legs deeply.

 _Don't want him sneaking off, now do we?_ She sarcastically asked herself, and then thought that she was going insane, talking to herself. Then, she realized she wasn't talking to herself, but thinking to herself. This wasn't much better, she decided.

Just as she hit the ground, she felt something quite large pass over her, and a loud comotion moments later. She looked behind her, just in time to see a large rock hit a building, and knock out a wall. The building still stood, but barely. She looked back in the direction it came from, and saw 3 Dragons approaching her, one a green, one a blue, and one yellow. They looked ridiculous color wise, but were still obviously very powerful. She stopped trying to take in unnecessary details like color, and tried to reason with them,

"Woah, hold on a mo-" but got no further as a boulder flew over her head.

"So, that's how it's going to be." She said to herself.

She dove behind a cart on the side of the street, and peeked over. She ducked immediately after, as an ice spike flew past her. She heard more hit the wooden cart, and realized it was a bad place to hide. She stood up and ran for a side street, but was cut in the side just before making it there.

After closer inspection, she found it was just a scratch. She realized she would have to take out the Dragon during these things at her. First, however, she had I find out which one it was. She peered around, and saw the blue one ready himself, but she didn't wait to see what for, and backed behind her cover again. A second later, something shattered close by, presumably the wall she was hiding behind. She drew her handgun, and readied herself.

She didn't want to kill any of these dragons, they just didn't know what was happening, just that she attacked their guards. She didn't really know where she could hit the Dragon without it killing him, so she decided on the legs, one front and one back.

She jumped out from around the corner to see that they had advanced on her position, and were now only 40 or so feet away. She shot twice, hitting the blue dragons front left, and rear left legs. The Dragon fell sideways, unable to stand. The other two looked back, and went to help, but the Dragon shook his head and said,

"No, I'm alright, keep going!"

The other two reluctantly turned back to where Ashley was.

"Where did it go?" The Yellow one asked when he saw that she was gone.

Ashley didn't really feel like waiting on them to come to her. They were all easily 3 times her height, 4 times in the case of the green one, so she decided to fight on her own terms.

The two dragons wandered forward, and saw her weapon on the ground, right in front of the corner she was using. Ashley had discarded it, because she didn't want to risk killing one of them with a misplaced bullet. The Yellow Dragon now lowered his head to inspect the weapon.

"What is this?" He asked to the Green Dragon, but before he could respond, there was another response from the corner in front of him,

"It's a gun."

Ashley was standing just around the corner, waiting for them. And now, she came around the corner to say that. She was going to say more, but the dragon attempted to strike her with its claws. She had her sword in hand within an instant, and she sliced it's paw, then kicked the dragon's lowered head on the nose.

The Dragon recoiled in pain, and so the other one came at her.

This one was much better at hand-to-hand combat, if you could call an enormous Dragon against a human with a sword 'Hand-To-Hand Combat'

She rolled under the large dragon as he tried to swipe her aside with a paw. As she finished the roll, she sliced backwards, cutting the back of the Dragons leg.

There was a roar of pain from the Dragon, and he tried to hit Ashley again. However, he found that she was no longer hiding underneath him. He felt a sensation on his back, and realized, to late, that she had jumped on top of him, and was climbing up his back.

Before she could reach his neck, he reared up, and sent her flying away. She flew right into the Yellow dragon, who had just recovered from her earlier attack. She tried to stand up and get some distance, but the Dragon wouldn't let her, and jumped at her. She blindly swung her sword behind her, catching the Dragon on the face, right above his eye. Blood streamed down into his eye, and blinded him.

Satisfied that the Yellow dragon was out of the fight, she turned to finish the Limping green one. Normally she would have offered a chance for surrender at this point, but she saw no surrender in this dragon's eyes. She had a newfound respect for the Dragon, but she knew she would still have to fight him.

She ran at the dragon, who swiped with his tail. She dropped to her knees and leaned back, sliding right under the tail. She straightened up, and kicked with one leg, launching her forward. She was again running under this dragon, and slicing the backs of his legs. The Dragon desperately bent his head down to bite her, but she cut the tip of his nose.

The Dragon did not fall though, so she upped her attack, stabbing his legs instead of cutting them. When the dragon finally fell, she rolled out of the way. She looked down at the dragon, who looked at her.

They locked eyes, and she saw the pure anger that flowed through him. She knelt down with a sigh.

"I didn't want to hurt you guys, but you forced me too."

The Dragon snorted, and said slowly, "You attacked our guards! Your evil, ape!"

"But I'm not an ape. And, you had probably better be nice, your life is in my hands right now."

The Dragon grinned, and said, "This is your last chance to surrender, Ape filth, and maybe you don't die here."

"Ha! Your not in a position to make statements like that." She said.

"We'll see…" he mumbled.

She heard something behind her, like a rock being stepped on. She swung around, hoping to would be Alex.

 _Of Course it's not Alex_ , she thought to herself, as she saw 2 more dragons approaching her, one Purple and Yellow, the other Back and a dark purple color. Both had an air of authority and power about them. While Ashley was confident she could fight them and win, she was tired of fighting for the day, and that there had been enough pain and death in one day. Plus, she could tell that there were merely children.

"Ok, before you try to fight me, can I say something?" she said, and the two dragons, 35 feet away looked at each other. They looked back, and did not get out of their battle stances, but the purple one said in a male voice,

"Sure, some final words couldn't hurt."

"Alright, uh, it's actually a long story. These three dragons attacked me, I didn't want to hurt them, but they forced me too."

"You attacked Parson and killed some of his men!" called the blue dragon, who was the only one able to speak at the moment.

"Well, you should talk to the REST of his men! They will back up my story."

"You haven't told us your story yet."

"Oh, right. Ok, there was a big fight, I pretty much saved all of them, but Parson wanted to make me a slave or something, so I ran here, but he attacked me." She said, very quickly.

"Wait, give me a second here, so you saved them all while they were doing what?"

"There was a massive force of apes, around 3 to 4 hundred apes, and the guards went out to fight them, but-"

"That would have been suicide! How did they survive?!"

"Because of her." Called a voice from their left. Ashley looked to see Alex walking forward, with all of the other guards.

"Wh-what?" said the black dragoness, who was clearly still confused.

"She has saved all of our lives, both today, and in recent weeks. Parson tried to enslave her, to make her a weapon that did his bidding."

The two dragons said nothing for a few minutes, but she soon heard a weak voice from behind her,

"Come on! Kill her! You're the purple dragon of Legend, Spyro! You have to kill her, she is a threat to the city!"

Ashley saw the purple dragon, now known as Spyro, considered doing so.

"I can't believe you people! None of you are interested in justice, instead, your all greedy and self-centered!"

She then ran off in the opposite direction.

Spyro was confused for a moment, them he realized what was happening. He ran after her, yelling,

"No! Wait! I wasn't actually considering it! I was trying to be sarcastic, but you ran before I could say something!"

Ashley stopped and looked back. She could see no traces of a lie in his eyes, so she decided to give him another chance.

"We just want to talk with you." Spyro said.

"Who's we?" Ashley asked, as the black dragoness came around the corner.

"Me and Cynder." He replied, motioning to the Black dragoness with his wing.

"Alright, fine. But! I keep my weapons, and no chains or cells!"

"Deal." He said, and he motioned for her to follow.

There was a cracking sound from above them, and Ashley realized that the building they were in, was the same one that almost fell during the fight. It was now falling, right above Spyro and Cynder. Ashley ran at them, and yelled,

"MOVE YOUR ASSES!"

Both of them looked up and started to move, but Ashley was there first, wrapping an arm around each, and dragging them with her as she left the building. They made it out, with plenty of time to spare, but just as Ashley released them, she tripped on a rock. As she fell, she could make out the place she would land, the edge of another rock.

She tried to put her hands out to break the fall, but failed. The last thing she saw was that rock, as it slowly took up more and more of her vision.

She blacked out.


	5. Chapter 4

**Remember, leave ANY AND ALL Errors in my writing, that way I can fix it. It really isn't difficult to fix...**

She woke. Her instincts took over, as she took in her surroundings and condition. She was sore, but nothing broken, her head hurt like hell though. She was bound by her wrists and ankles, she had a pillow behind her head, as well as a bandage over her head. She was still wearing her gear, and it was incredibly hot inside the room. Or, she thought, maybe it's just me cloths.

She opened her eyes, and growled softly at being restrained and her weapons taken. There was an instant commotion as 3 bodies began moving near her.

"Ashley?! Your awake!"

She recognized the voice instantly, and asked, "Alex, where am I?" she began to shout, more towards Spyro than Alex, "Where are my weapons?! Why am I strapped down?! You said I wouldn't be held as a prisoner, God damn you! You lying piece of shit!"

Spyro held up one paw in a pausing gesture, and said, "Now wait just a second, and I'll explain-"

"No! I don't want an explanation, damn it! I want out of this!"

"Ok! Ok! But you need to relax first, this is the entire reason we did this! To make sure you were calm when you woke up!"

She made an attempt to calm herself, but failed. Alex noticed this, and said, "Its ok, he is telling the truth. Sometimes, if a Dragon is knocked out mid combat, or just after combat, when they wake up, they go nuts. It only happens about an eighth of the time, but we didn't want to take the chance that you might do that, and hurt someone."

Having heard the reasoning behind her restraint from some one she trusted, she attempted to calm down again. This time, she was successful. Spyro nodded, and Cynder, who had been completely still and quiet until now, moved forward and began removing the leather straps bounding her arms and legs.

"Weapons?" She asked. Spyro pointed to the foot of her bed, where she saw her M16, Sword, Grenade belt, and Pistol holster, were all either leaning against the bed frame of hanging on the corner of it. She reached for her Pistol holster, and checked to make sure her gun was still inside it. Finding that it was, she set it back where it was hanging, and looked at Cynder.

Cynder was staring at her subtly, she noticed.

"So, any of you going to fill me in on what happened, what's happening now, and what is going to be happening in the near future?" She asked, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well, I guess we should start this off right." Spyro said, smiling, "Thank you for saving Cynder and I, if it weren't for you, Cynder and I would be pancakes."

Cynder nodded agreement instantly, then Spyro spoke again,

"Where did you get that sword? I've never seen one like it."

"I had Alex make it for me. The reason it's so different from swords you have seen, it's because it's literally, not from your world. It's a design from my world. I just told Alex how I wanted it made, and he pulled a favor with one of the local Blacksmiths."

"Hmm, wow, that's cool." He said

Now, Cynder spoke,

Yeah, and, well… if you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to fight like that?! I mean, you not only took all 3 Guardians at once, but then our best fighting group of moles in the city!"

She sighed, and said, "Its somewhat of a long story, and I would rather not talk about it."

She heard Alex make an annoyed groaning sound, and she turned to him.

"You got a problem with that?"

"Come one, Ashley! You have to tell some one about these things! They are obviously causing you a great pain. I can see it in your eyes at times. You wake, completely soaked by sweat, after having horrible nightmares!" He sighed again, and spoke a little softer now, "I've asked one of the doctors here to try to help you move on from your past."

She looked doubtful.

"You guys have Phycologists?"

"What's a Physiologist? No, we have doctors that know how to help you move on from traumatic experiences."

Now Spyro spoke, "Yea, I mean, if you haven't noticed, our world is not necessarily safe, and lots of us come across traumatic things." Spyro frowned, as what he said didn't really match with what he had planned to say in his head, but he looked up as Cynder touched his shoulder.

"Even this guy, right here, has a few Traumatic experiences." Spyro opened his mouth to protest, but Cynder turned to Alex and spoke before Spyro could.

"Would you mind if we stay with you when the doctor gets here? Maybe I could help a little, I know a little about what Ashley called Phycologists, at least, I think it's the same thing..."

Ashley opened her mouth to protest now, but Alex spoke before she could.

"Sure, why not? Maybe Spyro can get some help at the same time as Ashley."

But before anyone else could speak, Spyro and Ashley shouted at the same time, "I DON'T NEED HELP!"

Alex and Cynder looked at each other, and laughed. Alex soon became serious again, and looked at Ashley.

"Please, so it. It can't hurt anything to try, and if there is a chance it could help you, we need to take it, before this gets serious."

Ashley let out a deep sigh, and said slowly, "Ok, fine. I'll do it. But only because you asked me to."

They smiled at each other, and Alex leaned towards her and embraced her with his wings, and she put her arms around this neck. They shared their loving embrace for some minutes before a knock at the door came to their ears.

They separated to see that Spyro and Cynder had already left.

"You can come back in now." He said, and the door opened to reveal Spyro and Cynder, both with a look of mock annoyance.

"Are you two done yet? Or can the doctor come in?" Said Cynder. Alex had a look of real annoyance at this point. Seeing this, both Cynder and Spyro smiled broadly.

"Yes, I'm ready." Ashley said, and Cynder walked back out the door for a moment. They heard her voice say something inaudible. She then walked back in, with another Dragon.

The Dragon was about twice the height of Ashley. She realized, this Dragon was not much smaller than one of the Dragons she fought before she blacked out. It was a blue in color, similar to another of the Dragons she fought, but this one had a much longer neck, longer legs, and it's tail ended with a Spade-like shape.

"So, you're the one who has been causing this city so much trouble." It said in a feminine voice.

Ashley now had an annoyed look, and spoke in a slightly angry tone, "Wow, you guys sure are good at remembering these things. Well, of course, all except the part that I've saved you all from death!"

The dragoness' face changed to confusion, and she said, "I was not aware of any of this." She looked at Alex, who nodded in confirmation.

"Huh, well, I apologize then. Back to what I'm here to do. I need you to talk to me."

"About what?"

"What ever you feel you need to talk about."

When Ashley didn't speak again, she motioned toward Spyro, and, still speaking to Ashley, said:

"Even Spyro here has admitted to having traumatic memories, and that he needs help."

"Yea, I mean, I've seen some pretty bad fights-" Cynder knew by the look on his face what he would say next, and she tried to stop him. However, the older Dragoness put a paw on her chest, and shook her head in a 'No' gesture.

"How bad could yours be?" Spyro finished.

This caught Ashley's attention, as her head snapped towards him.

"How bad could they be? How bad could they be?!" She shouted, making Spyro wish she was still restrained. She sat up now, and continued shouting, "You haven't seen 'Bad' until you've been in a firefight in the middle of a FUCKING DESERT!" She stopped, and took a deep, shuddering breath in, then breathed out in a more confident manner. She did not however, say anything.

"Would you like to tell Spyro just what it was like in one of these 'Firefights'?" The dragoness prompted.

Ashley took another deep breath in, but then hesitated. All 4 dragons could practically see the memories flying past her eyes. Finally, she spoke. It was in a low, and very ominous tone that sent shivers down Cynder's spine.

"Well, firefights a just a part of wars in my world. There are big ones, and there are small ones. The only ones I ever seemed to be in where big ones." She paused for a moment, as she considered what to say.

"Constant gunfire... bullets flying last you… Screams of pain… Explosions… bombs being dropped from heights greater than any Dragon could ever dream of flying… the booming of mortars in the distance… the screeching of shells falling… fear than an IED could blow your legs off… Constant fear that a maniac with a bomb strapped to his chest might run at you… every time the gunfire started, you prayed that they would kill you rather than take you alive… *Scoff* You know nothing of trauma…"

She stopped, and no one spoke for many minutes. Then, the dragoness spoke, with a soothing voice,

"I can see that there is a specific moment in time that has caused you this. Please, share."

This time, Ashley did not hesitate, "It wasn't just one fight, there were multiple fights."

But seeing their unsatisfied faces, she sighed and said, "Well, I guess there was one fight that started it all…"

 **Ashley is telling them her story, but you will be told in a present tense, and more 1st person way:**

"Come on Ashley, keep up." Called Jonny, her oldest brother. She was the youngest sibling in the squad. It went against rules, they made sure that the commander of their Battalion put all 5 of them into a squad together.

Ashley, Peter, Jonny, Sara, and Heather. Their ages went on that order, with Heather being the oldest.

Peter walked back to her, and helped her up the last part of the slope. She nodded her appreciation rather than speaking, because she had no breath to speak. They had been hiking through the desert for almost 4 hours now with no rest, and she wasn't as fit or strong as her siblings.

As she rounded the hill, she saw a small town.

"There it is… our target." Said Heather, who was in the lead.

"Any one check to make sure that the other squads are here? Wouldn't like to run in there without back-up." Said Jonny. Sara moved her hand to the radio, and clicked it on. Ashley heard her speaking, but wasn't listening. Instead, she was studying the village before her.

There were 13 buildings total, with 3 of them being mere shacks. There was one, however, that stood out. While it wasn't decorated like one, this building was designed like a fortress. There were windows high, large and not covered, but the lower Windows were smaller and had thick wooden shutters that opened from the inside. There was a central tower with a bell in it, and running up the sides were more windows. Though not visible, Ashley sensed that the walls were also thicker than the others, possibly even strong enough to resist a 40mm grenade.

"Is that our target?" she asked, pointing at the building.

"Yes, it is." Said Jonny. They saw the uncertainty in her eyes, all but Peter's eyes had disappointment in them. Peter's eyes had a reassuring look to them, something in them said, 'Don't worry, you'll be ok'

She nodded to him, and the others took that as a sign that she was ready to move. They made their way down the hill, with Ashley Stumbling every so often. But, she was keeping up with them, which was all they could really ask for.

They made it to the bottom, and looked out into the main street.

"I don't like this." Ashley said, and Peter voiced his agreement, "Yeah, this is a trap waiting just waiting for us to walk in."

"It doesn't matter what we think. We have we job, and that is to take that building." Heather said.

Suddenly, Sara asked quietly, "I just heard, the other teams are behind schedule, should we go in alone?"

Heather sighed and thought a moment.

"Yes, we have to get this done before they get Reinforcements. They would have clearly seen us coming down the hill, I'm surprised they haven't started shooting at us yet."

"Don't jinx us." Jonny said, and Heather rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let's move then." Sara said impatiently. Ashley could see that she was battle hungry, and wanting a fight. She realized that's why Sara suggested that they move in alone.

They moved out of cover, and up the street on the left side of the road. They made it only 14 feet before a shot rang out. Ashley saw Jonny fall to the ground. She heard his scream in pain. Then his screams were drowned out by the sound of more gunfire. Sara dragged Jonny's body back, as Heather kicked in the nearest door. They scrambled inside, and did a sweep of the house.

"Where is Sara?" asked Peter. They all looked around the room. They heard more gunshots outside.

"Shit! Is she out there by herself?!" Yelled Peter, and then he and Heather ran for the door. Ashley, however, walked over to Jonny, who was twisting and moaning in pain on the floor.

She knelt beside him, and looked at his wound. There was a single gunshot wound in his stomach, and there was blood pooling around him. She put her hands on the hole and pressed, hoping to stop the blood. Jonny screamed in pain, and she stopped. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

She would never forget the look in his eyes. There was incredible pain and regret there, but also some happiness. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ashley didn't hear it. She leaned in closer, so that her ear was directly above his mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, Ashley. I w-wasn't n-nice to you. J-just kn-know that I- I- I Love you." Suddenly, he began speaking without stuttering, as he tried as hard as he could, "Mom and Dad would be proud of you. I am proud of…. You…."

Heather came back into the room, dragging a screaming Sara, who was yelling, "I'll kill you all! You bastards!" and other insults and challenges. They all became silent as they saw Ashley crying over Jonny's body. They ran over, and crouched next to his body, while also pushing Ashley out of the way.

"Jonny? Jonny, can you hear me? JONNY?!" But he did not move, and did not respond. Peter stood and punched the wall, yelling.

Now, both Heather and Sara ran outside screaming insults and challenges. Ashley heard them start shooting. She also heard many more guns start firing. However, they were closer than the Enemy were.

Confused, she walked outside to see that the other Teams had shown up, and were advancing just behind Heather and Sara. Peter pushed past her, and joined them in fighting. Ashley walked out, but was frozen, watching. Explosions went off near the building, as the Marines threw grenades at it. She heard the sound of Mortars firing in the distance.

She would soon realize that they were not friendly Mortars.

A large explosion went off, sending one of the Humvees that the other Teams arrived in, flying. It landed next to Heather, causing her to jump away from it, and right into the path of another Mortar shell. Ashley watched, still frozen and devoid of all emotion, as her oldest sibling was engulfed in fire.

Ashley did not move.

Next, Sara was hit. She fell to the ground, and in the wrong direction. She was originally standing behind a low wall, but when she got hit, she fell out from being it. She was shot another 3 times almost immediately.

Ashley still did not move.

Peter saw her standing out in the open, and ran towards her. He reached and grabbed her with both arms, one on each shoulder, and shook her. She could see him speaking, but heard nothing.

Then, suddenly, his body jerked, and stiffened. She then grabbed him as he began to fall, and all her senses came back to her. She looked into his eyes, and saw great pain. Fear flooded her veins.

"I'm so sorry, Peter." She cried, but before she could speak again, Peter spoke, "No, it was my fault. You weren't ready to join up, but I convinced you to. I'm sorry."

She thought a few moments, as she looked into his eyes, still full of pain. Then, rage flooded her veins, and chased out every ounce of fear in her body.

She smiled slightly, and said, "Don't worry, I'm ready now."

She saw his eyes turn from pain to Sadness as he saw the rage in her eyes.

"Don't let the Rage control you. It's what got Heather, Sara, and Me killed. Don't let it kill you too, please."

She nodded, closed her eyes, and let the Rage subside. When she opened them again, Peter was dead.

The rage took over again. She picked up Peter's gun and ran forward. She yelled a battle cry and began shooting at the men in the Windows. She heard the screaming of more Mortars falling through the air. She could tell just be hearing the pitch that this one was going to land 5 feet to her right. She jumped left, and rolled behind a wall.

BOOM

Her ears were ringing, but she stood up regardless and began advancing again. Soon, she was in front of the other Marines, and she stopped, looking around. She saw what she was looking for, a 40mm Grenade. It was on the belt of one of the dead marines. Peter always had a 40mm launcher on his gun, but she had forgotten to take one of the grenades of his belt. She grabbed the grenade, and loaded it. She aimed for the tower, and fired.

It hit exactly where she hopped it would, right in the corner. It blew out the corner, just 3 feet from the base. It began to tip. She heard panicked men yelling from inside as it tipped. It hit the other building, tearing down one wall. Dust filled the air, and she ran forwards, using it as cover. She ran in the hole in the wall of the compound, and looked around. It didn't take long to find the Enemy. There were 3 of them on the ground, coughing and waving the dust away. She fired on them, and moved to the next hall. She cleared the floor, finding no one else.

By the time she found the stairs, the dust was cleared, and the men shooting again. The other Marines had not taken advantage of the Dust, and where still outside. She turned the corner to see 5 guys at the windows, firing down at the Marines. She immediately started towards them, firing. She did not stop walking forwards, even when they noticed her. They began backing off, while shooting at her. They were in such a scramble, they didn't hit her once. She continued to advance on the retreating men, firing at them. She glanced out one window to see all 25 remaining Marines cheering and pointing at her.

 **Back to present time for a moment**

"That was the day that started it all."

 **5 Days Later, in their Base, Ashley is talking to her Commander, And good friend of their mother's, Jenny.**

"No! Don't pull me off Duty!"

"You don't have a squad, and you were just in a firefight that you lost the only remaining family you had left!" said Jenny, while walking across the base to a meeting with her superiors.

"Yes, and I have a score to settle!"

Jenny's face changed to one of compassion, as her voice turned to kindness, "You know as well as I that fighting angry Will get you killed. You also have nothing to prove, you did so well on your last mission. Maybe here in a few weeks, I can assign to another squad, you can train with them, and then go back out. Until then, relax, train, have fun."

"How can I do that when I know that the people that killed me family are still out there?"

"You killed them, remember?"

Now, Ashley had a Matter-Of-Fact tone, copying Jenny's voice from earlier, "You know as well as I that some of them ran and escaped."

Jenny's face and voice turned to annoyance and anger, and she said, "Don't you take that tone with me. I am the closest thing you have to family right now."

Ashley sighed, and said sadly, "I know, I'm sorry. I just feel like I have to do something! Ya know? I didn't do anything to help prevent their deaths. I didn't do anything. But I can now, and I feel like I have to. For them, you know?"

Jenny sighed sadly, and said slowly, "Ok, fine. I guess I can send you with another squad. I think there is a Tank division leaving shortly."

"Oh! Thank you so much Jenny!"

She hesitated, thinking she should say more.

"Well, what are you still doing here? Go! I'll delay them for a few minutes, but you better pack fast!"

 **A few days later, in the streets of a large town (I'm sorry, I really don't know of any towns in the Middle East that match the description I need)**

The road was 3 lanes wide, and a faded black color. The dividing lines were also faded, and difficult to see in some places. It was a 4 block stretch, with buildings on either side. Most of the buildings were no more than 2 stories tall. There was one 4 story building, but it's inside corner had collapsed in where a bomb shell had hit in a previous attack.

It was quiet for a moment, but an ear-shattering boom echoed out, and were followed by a quiet whining noise, and an explosion. Gunfire began, or rather, resumed.

"Rotate 4 degrees left!" called the spotter located behind the tank. The turret moved a few inches then stopped, and a few metallic clanks could be heard from inside, as a new shell was loaded.

They watched as the terrorists hiding behind the rubble ducked, and yelled something.

"Fire!"

There was another boom, and an explosion. There was no whining sound, the gunfire drowned it out. But, their gunfire also drowned out the sound of a single pair of footsteps sneaking up on them.

"Reload!" he their spotter yelled into his radio.

The men that were hiding behind the rubble of the collapsed corner were now firing again. They're getting confident, thought the spotter.

"Wait!" he heard a female voice say on the handheld radio he and all the members of the crew had.

"What is it, Ashley?" He heard their squad leader, Mike, ask.

"Don't fire again!"

"And why not?" He asked.

"Can you just trust me on this?"

There wasn't a reply for a second, but then in an annoyed tone, he said, "Fine, you've got 30 seconds before we start firing again!"

"I only need 5."

She stepped up from her spot at the top of the rubble, close to the building. She fired at the exposed right hand sides of the 6 Terrorists that had pinned down the tank crew.

3 of them fell before they realized where it was coming from. They dove for cover as she advanced on them. She came close to one, who was behind a piece of Cement on the ground.

She kicked him in the face as he tried to stand and face her. He flew back, and his body stiffened for a moment, as she shot him in the chest, but then his body relaxed and stopped moving. She moved towards the next one, who was just as vulnerable.

He was fumbling with his gun and a clip, as he tried to reload it. He looked up, just in time to look down the barrel of Ashley's gun. The third and final one was a bit more prepared.

He wasted no time in trying to shoot her, but his gun clicked a few times. He growled and threw it to the side, and drew his knife. He yelled and charged at her, but Ashley sidestepped. The man tripped and fell, but did not move after that. Ashley kicked him onto his side, and saw his knife lodged between his ribs.

She looked over at the tank, and saw that all the hatches were open, and in each one, there sat a member of the crew. They watched her as she walked back over.

"Not bad." Said Mike, but Ashley looked at him and said, "Not bad? I'm pretty sure I just saved your asses."

"Well… ok. But we have to get out of here! Those won't be the only terrorists with guns to show up. Private! Did you fix the track yet?"

The ones that attacked them had set up an ambush, and threw a grenade as they passed, breaking the treads on their left side.

"Yes sir! It really wasn't that hard to do-"

"I don't care. Now let's get out of here."

But before he could climb the tank, the private spoke up again,

"Uh, but sir…"

Mike sighed and asked, "What's the problem?"

"It wasn't a complete fix, we were missing a few of the bolts in the replacement piece, and it's not very strong. We can still move, but we will have to go slow."

"How slow?"

But Ashley spoke up, and with a grim expression, she said, "Too slow."

Mike looked at her, and she finished her thought, "Your not going to move fast enough, and these Terrorist assholes are going to catch up to you."

He sighed again, and rubbed his chin.

"And you know as well as I, that if they set up another ambush, or disable the tank again, that we're screwed. We got lucky this time, but if it happens again…" she trailed off.

"Well…" their squad leader was clueless as to how to get out of this, so Ashley came out with her plan.

"I'll stay behind and delay them as long as I can, while you guys meet up with the rest of the division and bring back-up."

"What? No!" Mike said instantly.

"Its your only chance! And once you meet back up with the others, you can come back for me!"

She could see the resistance in his eyes, so she stopped his train of thought, "You think I can't handle it?" she said in a challenging but humorous tone. He smiled slightly, and said, "I know you can delay them. But for how long? I've never lost a member of my crew, I don't intend to now."

It was silent for a few moments, but then one of the other crew members, Abu, spoke up. His voice was low, and his skin a deep brown color. He was a very large African man, and had the personality of a child; Shy, Quiet, kind, but also easily angered.

"I say we all stay." Ashley looked at him with confusion, but the other 3 men instantly agreed.

"What? No!" Ashley protested.

"What's the problem?" Mike asked.

"We don't all have to stay, you guys go get help."

"No. We've all decided we are staying here. Plus, there's no way I'm letting a girl show me up!"

The others laughed, but Ashley glared at him for a moment, but then a smile broke across her face, as she said, "Fine, just stay out of my way."

Only Mike and Abu got back in the tank, but the private, Ashley, and Jerry, Mike's best friend, got into defensive positions outside the tank.

The loading was done by hand, but only because that's how the crew preferred it, however, there was also a mechanical loading option that they now had to use. They called for back-up over their radio's, and waited for either the bad guys to show up, or the good guys.

They didn't have to wait long. Almost 30 minutes later, they heard trucks. They could tell that they weren't military trucks of any kind, but a much smaller engine, more like a small Chevy truck. They all waited.

The engine turned off, and they heard people jumping onto the ground. The sounds were coming from just over the large mound of debris from the collapsed building, so they saw nothing of what was happening on the other side.

"Are we expecting any friendlies this soon?" The private whispered, and Ashley hissed,

"No. But shut up!"

They waited a full 5 minutes before they heard more trucks. They sounded bigger, but still not like military trucks.

 _Wow, I'm so used to listening to trucks that I can identify them without seeing them. It's so strange…_ she continued her thoughts about how a person becomes so used to things that they don't notice it anymore. But then she realized that it was the same thing as when a child recognizes its mother's voice without seeing her, or a sibling or father, etc.

Then, her thoughts went to her childhood. She had a nice childhood, she realized. Sure, her siblings weren't always nice to her, but that is what made her who she is today. Other memories also came back to her. Most of the good, some bad, but one stood out the most.

Her memory of a video game series called Spyro. She loved the hell out of those games. She played them over and over again, that is, until one day her oldest sister 'Accidentally' spilled a soda on them. Her thoughts turned bitter for a moment, but then she smiled to herself as her memories with her siblings came to her. She actually laughed to herself.

The other men looked at her, as she smiled and laughed, and couldn't help but laugh as well. She looked around, confused, and then realized what she was doing. For a moment, she thought of stopping, but instead, she laughed more.

"What the hell are you 3 laughing for?" Mike said over the radio.

"Ah, just thinking of my brothers and sisters and the fun times we had."

"Oh, do tell then." Mike said. Ashley was confused, but then she saw his goal; it would help lift the deathly thoughts that clouded the crew's minds.

"Well, there was this video game series that I really loved when I was little, it was the Spyro Trilogy. It was about this Dragon who had to stop another from destroying the world and such. Anyways, I was sitting on my bed when my oldest sister walked in. She asked, 'Hey, Ashley. Do you want a drink of my soda?' And I looked at her to see if she was serious, and saw no sign that she was, but at the same time, nothing that said she wasn't. I said ok, and as she walked over, she tripped on one of my toys that I left on the floor. Her soda flew over and landed on the stack of open game cases I had out. I used to be so mad at her for that. She claimed innocence, but I didn't believe her." She paused and chuckled, "The trouble she got in. Oh man! She didn't have another soda for a year!"

The other men laughed with her at the silly story, and made them all think of childhood memories.

"Alright everyone, get ready. I think they're here."

They so snapped back, and checked clips, grenades, belts, and other gear. They waited for another 3 minutes before they heard a shout.

It was soon followed by a roar of battle cries, as a mob of men with guns charged over the mound of debris just 45 Yards away.

Ashley let lose her own yell, and began firing. It turned into a type of chaos that only an experienced soldier could make sense of.

The tank fired, sending 4 flying through the air and colliding with others. More kept pouring over the mound and, the gunshots did not stop. Ashley threw a grenade and kept firing. The tank shot again, and another explosion went off.

An explosion went off somewhere behind Ashley, and she realized that there were Mortars firing in the distance. She heard a faint boom in the distance and a few seconds later, another explosion went off near the tank, and rocks rained down on her. A bullet landed on a rock barley a foot away from her head, and she continued to return fire.

An explosion went off almost right next to her. She fell sideways, and her ears rang. She felt rocks rain down on her, and a burning pain in her left side. She opened her eyes and moved her head down so she could see her side.

There was no blood, or bullet hole or any sign of a wound. However, the pain in her side continued to grow. She looked around at the other men to see that they were also clutching their sides in pain. She forced herself up, and leaned on a big metal beam, and lifted her gun. She fired into the closest hostile, taking him down, then aimed for the next one, and then the next, and the next, and the next, until finally, she collapsed.

The pain was to great. She managed a look up at the others, to see them all writhing in pain. She looked up at the sky, and only saw grey smoke and ash. She closed her eyes, but something was telling her to open them again.

She opened them, and found herself looking at bright blue skies. The pain spread through her entire body in an instant, and she screamed in pain, but did not close her eyes. A head slowly moved into her vision, then shoulders, and then a gun. There was a Terrorist standing directly above her. She wanted to close her eyes, but still did not.

The man pointed his gun at her. However, Ashley saw a very bright light coming from behind the man's head. It grew in brightness, and the man looked up. While her ears still rung, she could see him stagger back out of her line of vision. The light instantly took up her entire line of sight. It was bright, but did not hurt her eyes, it was white, but colorful at the same.

 **Back to real time, her story is done.**

"That's all you remember?" Cynder asked.

"Yes, that light was the last thing I saw."

"Wait, you said you saw the other humans in the same condition, do you think they are here too?" asked Terrador.

They all looked over at him, having not seen him come in.

"When did you show up?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, well… To be honest, I've been listening outside the door the whole time, but I only just came in."

Ashley glared at him, but answered his question, "Yes, I did see them like that, but there was no sign of them when I woke up."

Terrador looked at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at her, and said, "I want to apologize to you. We attacked without knowing the situation, and we shouldn't have, so… I'm sorry."

Ashley was surprised by this, and she saw that it was difficult for him to admit he was wrong. She nodded to him, and said,

"Well, I can understand why you did what you did."

"Oh, and I can gladly say that the one who did all this to you is locked away." He said with some enthusiasm.

"Really? That quick?" she asked.

"Yes, there were quite a few witnesses, including your… friend… Alex." She looked at him, smiling.

"Soo… what do we do now?" asked Spyro.

"Well, you could always ask me more questions." Suggested Ashley.

"Ah, yes, I think that the other Guardians and I would like to ask a few more things of you. If you don't mind, of course."

"Sure, go ahead and bring them in here."

 **Ok, so i'll be posting multiple chapters at a time, mostly because the time I have for typing is different. I might have 15 Minutes one week, but then the next have 3 hours of free time, so I get different amounts done.**

 **One last announcement, I'm getting a job, I start next week, and I have training all this week. That's why I posted early.**

 **Bye!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Ok, do you people just not like to review or something? I have 190 views, and 3 reviews! I don't care if you don't love the story, just leave a comment on what I'm doing wrong! I know this story is just one giant train-wreck, with grammar issues, spelling, and then auto correct really screwed everything up. My phone is what I type on most of the time, and the auto correct is useful, but annoying. One such example, is just about every time I type "my" it changes it to "me." Also, I can't make improvements until I find out about it myself, but if you tell me, then I will not repeat the mistake! LEAVE REVIEWS, PLEASE!**

Ashley talked for hours on end with the guardians and Spyro. They asked a lot of things, some of them very personal, such as her age. While she wanted to hit Cyril, who was the one who asked, she knew that they wouldn't know the fact that you NEVER ask a woman her age. They stayed away from the topic of war as best they could, to Ashley's relief.

There was another thing that furthered Ashley's amusement, and it was the fact that only Terrador was able to walk, while the other 2 were immobile on beds, trying to recover.

She also realized that Alex was asking some of the more personal question. This went unnoticed by the others, but she could tell that he wanted to know her more. She soon decided to stop the questions and get some sleep,

"Alright, I'm done for the day. Me and Alex are just going to head home and get some sleep."

"You could stay here in the temple if you want, we have plenty of rooms for you all." The yellow and blue dragon, now know as Volteer, said.

Ashley shook her head, and looking at Alex, said, "No, we're ok with were we are at now." And Alex also gave a nod, and they walked out.

Spyro met up with Cynder in his room, and they talked for another hour, before Cynder suggested,

"Well, since we obviously aren't going to get any sleep tonight, do you maybe want to go say hi to Alex and his mate, Ashley?"

Spyro considered it for a moment, but then said, "Well, first off, they don't consider themselves Mates just yet, or at least, that's what they said during our meeting with them. But other than that, I don't see any reason why not to go for a visit!"

Cynder smiled, and they both stood to leave.

15 minutes later, they were knocking on Alex's door. There was no response. Spyro knocked again. Still no answer.

"Well, maybe they're still sleeping." Cynder suggested, but Spyro shook his head,

"No, I don't think so. Something feels… off. I don't know what it is, but something is telling me they should be here, but they aren't."

Cynder could tell what he would do next.

Before Cynder could stop Spyro, he opened the door and walked in.

"Hello? Alex? Ashley? You guys here?"

There was no response. They searched every room, until they came to the last room. The bedroom.

Spyro cautiously walked in, and looked around. The room was empty. He walked over to an open hole in the ground, and motioned for Cynder walk over.

"What is this? A tunnel?" Cynder asked, and Spyro nodded.

"We aren't going in there, ar-" but couldn't finish her sentence, as Spyro jumped down.

"Of course we are."

 **Over to where Ashley and Alex are…**

They both laid, side by side, on the floor of a warm cave, both panting.

"Wow, you know how to calm one's nerves, don't you Ashley?"

"Ha ha, very funny." she said sarcastically, then added in a serious tone, "I thought we agreed not to joke about it with each other, that it was serious."

"Alright, sorry."

"And that we aren't telling anyone of this?"

"Yes, I know."

"Jeez, don't sound so forced to do it. You agreed to it, as neither of us want anyone to know that I might have your child. It makes people… how do I say it… overprotective and clingy. I don't want that."

"I know, I know. But what about me? You know I'll end up like that too."

"Well, when it's a person you love, it's actually nice to have someone who's overprotective and clingy." She said softly, and he nuzzled closer to her. A moment later, to Alex's disliking, Ashley stood up.

"What was that?" she asked. Alex looked around the cave, and saw nothing.

"Uh, I don't see anything."

"No, I didn't see anything, but I heard something."

Now Alex stood and walked over, asking,

"Well, what did it sound like?"

Ashley hesitated a moment, then said, "A distant shout."

"No one else from Warfang comes out here." He replied calmly.

Ashley looked at him, and said, "I know, and that's what worries me. If it wasn't someone we know, who was it?"

Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he became serious about the matter.

"Alright, let's just stay in here until daylight, then we'll make our way to the city again." Ashley said, but Alex shook his head, and said,

"But they will know we were gone by then, and they may suspect what we were doing out here."

But Ashley's instincts and train of thought from wars in her world would not let her do it.

"Let them suspect what ever they want! Its better than getting caught in an ambush and possibly getting seriously hurt!"

He sighed, and nodded, but Ashley could see he wasn't totally convinced, so she added,

"And as good as I may be with a knife, we wouldn't beat anything more than 50 apes."

He smiled, and said ,

"Well, I would get 50 of them, I would have to protect you the whole time."

She smiled, and said back,

"Ha ha, where was that attitude during your attack that took place just a few days ago?"

"Ok, good point."

Their heads snapped towards the entrance as they heard footsteps, running ones. She nodded to Alex, and they took positions on opposite sides of the entrance.

The steps came closer, and closer, until something darted in front of Ashley.

She stuck her foot out, tripping the creature. As the creature hit the ground, she heard a grunt of pain. She moved forward, pinning the creature before it could get up, and said,

"Move and you die."

There was a moment of silence, then she heard in a familiar voice,

"Ashley? This is where you've been?"

"Spyro?! Damn you! I almost killed you! What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Can you get off me first? Its hard to breath."

"Oh, ya, sure." She said, rising, and moving over to Alex. Spyro ran over to the cave entrance, and yelled,

"Cynder! Over here!"

In the dim light, Ashley saw him turn back towards her. She was now sitting next to Alex, but Spyro said,

"Don't sit down just yet. There is a reason I was running."

"What? What was it?" Alex asked. Spyro's voice filled with confusion and terror,

"I don't know what it was! It's just a bit smaller than I am, walked on 4 legs, and was all fury! I didn't see colors, but it was dark with some lighter colors."

"Really? You were beat by an animal smaller than you are?" Alex asked, but before Spyro could reply, Cynder spoke, having just entered unnoticed,

"It came out of no where, and fought with incredible speed! Of course Spyro and I would have beat it on normal conditions, but it was dark and we were caught off guard."

They looked at Ashley, who had been totally silent. Her eyes were slightly more open than they were normally, and her breathing a little more erratic.

"Ashley? Is something wrong?" Spyro asked.

She looked at him, and said slowly, "I think I know what creature your talking about, but it comes from my world, not yours." When none of them said anything in response, she added, "I have to find out for sure. It could lead to something very large and important. The chances are slim, but if there's a chance, I have to take it."

"A chance for what, Ashley?" Alex asked in a concerned tone.

She shook her head, and said, "I can't explain it, I have to go do this myself. You guys stay here."

"WHAT?!" Alex shouted, and went to say more, but Spyro, having seen this type of argument before, suggested,

"How about we just stay down wind from you? That way we can stay in sight and help if you need it."

Ashley was reluctant, but soon agreed, saying,

"Alright, fine. But don't intervene unless I tell you to. Got it?"

They all nodded, but before they left, Ashley found a large stick and tore off a part of her undershirt.

"Spyro, light this on fire, please." She said, and Spyro did as asked.

 **5 minutes later**

Ashley was now moving through the trees with a torch in hand. She knew where Alex and Spyro were, and Cynder had elected to stay back, as to make less noise. She was also injured, and Spyro didn't want to risk her getting hurt even more.

She moved, making noise on purpose, as to not sneak up on what she thought it was she was trying to find. She stepped on a twig, and heard it snap, and moments later, she heard a low growl to her left.

She turned slowly, with her hands open and infront of her.

"Easy, it's ok." She said soothingly, still not knowing if her assumption was right. The growl stopped, and she continued,

"Hey… come here, I won't hurt you. Come on out…"

She waited a moment, then went to speak again, but the creature moved forward, into the dim moonlight.

Ashley gasped slightly, as she saw her assumptions where correct.

It was a dog.

A black, white and tan colored German Shepard. It was a massive dog, with enormous ears, which stood up, and twitched around. It had beautiful Blue eyes, which confused Ashley, because she had thought that German Shepard's had brown eyes. In fact, the only breed of dogs she could think of that had blue eyes were Huskies.

 _That's what it is!_ She screamed in her head, as she finally pieced together that it was probably a cross between a German Shepard and a Huskie. She realized that the dog was watching her expectantly.

"Come here." She said softly, and the dog hesitated, so she knelt down and called again.

This time, the dog moved forward slowly, until Ashley could reach out to it, palm up. The dog sniffed her hand, and seemingly not finding any hostilities, licked her hand. Ashley smiled, and began patting the dog softly on the head.

"Wow, you've got a way with dogs." Said a voice from behind her, startling her. She jumped up, scaring the dog too.

She looked around for a minute, then a flashlight clicked on, blinding her for a moment.

"Oh, sorry Ashley."

The light moved, and she could see a familiar face. Familiar faces, she realized. In front of her, stood Mike, Abu, Jerry, and the private she didn't know the name of yet. She surged forward, and embraced Mike in a hug.

The dog, having seen all their reactions, and sensing their happy moods, began jumping and prancing with joy. Ashley turned towards the dog, then looked at Mike, and asked,

"I don't recall having a dog aboard the tank, where did it come from?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I guess she might have been in the neighborhood we were in, and got taken with us."

Seeing Ashley's confused expression, he said,

"What ever took us here, couldn't quite tell who it should bring, and brought every terrorist within 10 yards with us. When we woke up, we had to finish off a few of those Terrorists. When we finished, this little monster came out of a Bush and scared us half to death."

"Well, does she have a name?"

Mike hesitated, and his face reddened with embarrassment, and he said,

"Well, we actually named her Ashley. We thought you were dead, because you weren't with us when we woke up."

"Well, I just ended up waking in a different place."

Seeing that she wasn't bothered by the name, he continued with confidence,

"How did you survive out here?"

Now it was Ashley's turn to hesitate.

"I made some friends." She said, uncertainty, and Mike noticed it.

"What kind of friends?"

"Well, it's complicated… first they thought I was an enemy, then I got one to trust me, weeks later, or in this case, Yesterday, I saved just about all of them while they did something stupid. However, there was a missunderstanding between some of the… Powerful officials and I."

"Well, what happened?"

"Lets just say I made 3 very powerful officials look not so powerful."

They all laughed, and Mike clapped her on the back, and said,

"That's the Ashley I know. Come on, we've got a camp set up just a few hundred yards east."

"Uh, actually, I've got some of my friends here with me."

Mike stopped and looked at her, and asked in a hushed tone,

"Ones that we can trust?"

"Yes, in fact, the 3 with me are some of the few that have been on my side the whole time. Or, in the case of 2 of them, the last 24 hours."

Mike looked skeptical, but said, "Fine, go get them, meet me at the camp. You'll see the fire."

She nodded, and patted the dogs head one more time before walking over to where Alex and Spyro were hiding.

It took her a moment to notice the second set of footsteps behind her. She turned and saw the dog was following her. She went to call Mike to take her with him, but he was already gone.

She sighed, and looked down at the dog, who looked up at her, tounge stuck out the side of her mouth.

"We need to get you a new name. Its slightly insulting to have you named after me."

The dog continued to stare at her.

"You look like an idiot."

The dog stared at her.

"Fine, let's go. Hopefully you listen well."

She continued forward, with the dog following right behind her. As she approached the place she knew Alex and Spyro were hidden, she realized that the dog had taken notice, and began growling.

"Easy." She said in a stern tone, and the dog stopped growling.

"Ok, Alex, Spyro, I need you to walk out real slow."

There was nothing for a moment, then Alex moved out from behind a nearby tree. She had another thought, and added, "Actually, Spyro just wait a moment for Alex to meet our new friend. Then you can come out."

As Alex approached, the dog growled again, making Alex stop.

"Try to look unarmed." Ashley said, but only received a glare and an annoyed response,

"How do you suggest I do that? I'm a dragon! My fingers are weapons!"

The dog growled a little louder.

"She can sense the tone of your voice, so try to sound kind or something, anything but your current tone."

"Fine." He said, then spoke as soothingly as he could, which wasn't very good, "Hi there, don't bite me, I'm nice."

"Ok, she can sense the tone of your voice, but she doesn't know what your saying." Ashley commented, and Alex continued to speak in a soothing voice,

"That's all for the better, that means she doesn't know what it is I'm saying." He continued to speak to the dog while inching forward. Eventually, he was about a foot away, and he stopped. He looked at the dog for a moment, not sure what to do next.

The dog had the answer for him, and moved forward slowly. The dog sniffed around him, at his paws, wings, tail, and neck.

When she was finished sniffing, she licked him once on the shoulder, then sat down. Alex let loose a sigh of relief, and walked over next to Ashley.

"That was uncomfortable."

Ashley shrugged and said, "At least you won't have to do it again."

"Did you have to do that?"

"No."

"What?!" He said, looking at her in disbelief.

"Well, I guess your not good with animals."

He shook his head, and said nothing.

"Well, on the bright side, now you get to watch Spyro, and later Cynder, do the same thing."

He smiled slightly at that, and Ashley called out,

"Ok, Spyro it's your turn. Did you listen to what I told Alex?"

She heard a nervous voice come from the other side of a bush,

"Yea, I think so."

"Ok, first off, calm down! She WILL NOT attack you again. I guarantee it."

There was no response, but a few footsteps and leaves rustling. He slowly emerged from the bush, and this time the dog recognized the dragon, and was more calm. The process was the same as with Alex, but a bit slower, as the dog was less trusting, even if more calm.

When she finally was satisfied that Spyro wasn't an enemy, she sat down and looked at Ashley expectantly again.

"Alright, two down, one to go." Ashley said.

They all looked at her, then their heads swung around as a voice sounded out,

"Well then let's get this over with."

It took a moment for Ashley's eyes to focus, then she saw the slim shape of Cynder.

"How long have you been there?" Ashley asked.

"About 5 minutes."

"So you saw that whole thing?" Spyro asked, and she nodded.

While they were talking, none of them had noticed that the dog had walked up to Cynder, and was sniffing her. They all stopped and stared as the dog instantly began licking Cynder on the neck and wagging her tail.

"Are you kidding me?!" Alex and Spyro said in unison, making both Ashley and Cynder laugh lightly.

"So we have to sit through that, but she is accepted instantly?" Alex said.

"It's not acceptance, it's more of a trust issue. You see, a dog doesn't care what you look like, ugly or not, but will follow you to hell and back if it trusts you. That's what makes dogs great, they are always loyal. In fact, I know very few who can be as loyal as a dog." She added the last part while looking at Alex.

Unfortunately, Alex didn't see her look, but Spyro and Cynder did.

"Ok, let's get going to meet up with my team." But a look from Alex made her rephrase her question to, "My other team."

While they were walking, Spyro and Cynder obviously had some sort of plan to execute, because they were trying to separate Ashley and Alex. Ashley gave Alex a quick nod, deciding that they would go along with it.

Once separated, Cynder walked beside Ashley, and with a big smile on her face, she said,

"Ok, I'm going to ask you a few VERY important questions, and I need you to answer them."

Ashley doubted she could force her to answer, but going with her earlier course of action, she decided to say,

"Alright, I'll answer any of your questions."

Cynder did not hesitate, and instantly asked,

"What were you two doing out here, in that cave?"

"Ok, I'll answer any question BUT that one."

"What was it like? What was he like? How did it feel?" Cynder asked.

Ashley looked at her in disbelief, and asked,

"How old are you?"

"Not old enough to do what you were, but old enough to dream of it."

Ashley laughed lightly, and replied,

"Well then, I have a bit of guidance for you: Don't rush it. You don't want to get involved with the wrong person. But don't pass it up either. If you know you have the right one, then don't hesitate," Her voice grew in sadness, and continued, "or you may loose them forever."

Of course, Cynder knew she wasn't on the same topic anymore, and was thinking of her brothers and sisters. Because she knew this was an unhappy topic for her, she said,

"Hey, I see a fire."

Ashley looked up, and saw it as well. Alex and Spyro must have seen it too, because they caught up with them, Alex asking,

"So, Ashley, how are we going to go about this?"

Ashley merely shrugged, and said, "I'm not the ones meeting them, you are."

Spyro looked confused, and asked,

"Really? No advice or anything? I for one would like to make a better impression on these guys than we did for you."

The others nodded agreement, and Ashley smiled broadly, and said,

"That's what I was hoping to hear. I was trying to find out if you would just half-ass it."

"I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it doesn't really matter. So what is your advice?"

Ashley thought for a few moments, then stopped walking.

"Alright, in our world, we were known as Marines. Marines were pretty much the most elite fighting force in the world. We were the metaphorical hammer of the United States Military… not that you would know what that is. Anyways, because they are Marines, and they are highly trained in all sorts of combat, you need to treat them as such. The one named Mike is the leader, but the others aren't forced to follow him, they elected him to be Squad leader."

"So they respect him, right?"

"Yes, and you will too, once you know him. His best friend, and next most respected is Jerry. He's a good guy, but a little quick to act and speak. He makes choices that sometimes are a little bit too rushed, so don't ever take his advice. Abu is next, he is a very large man, and he is very kind. But don't let that fool you, if you piss him off, you'll be dead before anyone else can even try to save you. Also, his skin color is different from the others and mine, but DO NOT MENTION IT!"

"Ok, why?" Cynder asked, but the only response she got was,

"Just trust me on this one."

Seeing no further question, she added one last thing,

"There is one more crew member, but I know hardly anything about him. But, it doesn't mean that the rest of the crew don't like him. He's not very old, and if you think about it as a family, he's the little brother that everyone protects. I'm the only one who doesn't know much about him… mostly because I was only on the crew for a few days, and he doesn't talk much."

They nodded in understanding, and Ashley clapped her hands together and said,

"Alright, let's get this done." And she then turned and started walking again. She walked into the clearing, and looked around, using directions to remember where things were.

The clearing was pretty big, and unusually rectangular, about 50 by 60 yards. The first thing she noticed, were the 18 mounds of dirt in front of her, on the south side of the clearing.

Graves, she realized.

The next thing she saw was at the center of the clearing; an M1 Abrams Tank. Right next to it was a fire, and it had what looked like pans inside it. They next thing she noticed, was the wondrous smell in the air, and identified it as cooking meat.

She pushed her new thoughts of hunger aside, and continued to observe.

To the north, there was a small stone ruin, which was once probably a house. Now, however, it was broken down, and only low walls remained. She also noticed trenches located around the clearing, accompanied by sandbags. There were 8 total, 2 facing each direction, and the were sandbags stacked on the edges.

The tank was sitting in the middle, with the fire about 15 feet away. Only Abu was near the fire, as he was the one cooking. The others were lounging on the tank, one on each side of the barrel, and one on the top of the turret.

"About time you showed up, Ashley." Mike called out, with a smile on his face.

"Yea, had to make sure that the dog wouldn't try to tear my friend's throats out again. Oh, also, we need a new name for her. Ya know, since I'm not actually dead and all." Ashley said.

She noticed that all of the men were watching the 3 dragons with caution, and had their weapons close at hand.

"Those are some strange friends you got there, Ashley." Jerry said, with a smirk.

"Well, you are in our world, so technically you guys are the strange ones." Spyro responded.

The crew laughed, and after, Jerry said, "Good point, I guess we are."

Mike jumped off the tank, and walked over to the group.

"Well, Ashley, what kind of name did you have in mind for the dog?"

Ashley had no idea what they should name it, but as he asked, she noticed Spyro's eyes light up. She motioned towards Spyro, and asked,

"Do you have an idea, Spyro?"

Spyro hesitated, as he thought a moment. Then, he looked to Cynder, who seemed to have the same idea. She nodded approvement, and Spyro responded confidently,

"Ignitus."

Mike and Ashley were surprised by the name, and Mike asked,

"Why Ignitus? Who is that?"

"He was a very good friend of mine, a father even. He helped Cynder and I defeat Malefor."

"Who the hell is Malefor?" Mike then asked, but then quickly said, "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

Spyro looked slightly disappointed, as he didn't get the chance to brag of his accomplishments. He soon became slightly angry with himself, at the fact that he was being selfish. He pushed the thoughts aside, as Ashley spoke again,

"Well, I guess we have a name."

She walked over to the rest of the camp and called the dog over. She spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her,

"Everyone, the dog has a new name."

"Really? What is it?" Abu asked.

"Every one, meet Ignitus."

 **I read over this a few times, so hopefully there are less errors in it compared to previous chapters. Some other good news is that I was cleared in my background check to start work! Basically, it means that my employers are satisfied that I'm not a terrorist. I start making 11.50 and hour sometime next week!**

 **BYE!**


	7. Update on Chapter 6

**Alright, A quick uupdate for any who are waiting for another chapter. I AM NOT DONE! There is more to come, this is just an extrodinarily long chapter, and there is the fact that I have little time to write.**

 **But I promise you that when this chapter comes out, you will love it! Just please be patient.**


	8. Chpt 6 Pre-View

**This is just a little Pre-View for the chapter, Something to maybe keep y'all from sending me impatient PM's. The rest is coming soon!**

"Cynder isn't herself right now… Malefor did something to her."

"What? When?" Ashley asked

"While you guys were off getting more guns, he snuck up behind her, and… Put something in her brain… Awakened something she had been suppressing for a long time."

"That explains quite a lot…"

"Yes, and well… I need to ask one last thing of you, Ashley."

"Anything."

"I need you to take these two things-" He held out a necklace, and a small glass bottle, "One is the cure to Cynder, the other… Well, you must discover that for yourself."

She cautiously took the bottle in one hand, and put the necklace on. Spyro took a step forward, and put one claw on the necklace. Ashley decided now to take a look at the necklace.

It was medium sized, and looked like it was made of Silver. It had a large, grey Gem in the center.

 _Not very Fashionable_ , She thought to herself, until Spyro closed his eyes, and touched his claw to the gem. It began to change colors, Every color of the rainbow, and more. It started slowly, but then repeated. It repeated again, and again, and again, increasing in speed each time. Soon, it was changing so fast, that Ashley couldn't distinguish between the colors, it looked strange to Ashley…

Like it was None of the colors, and All of them at the same time.

Spyro removed his claw, and stepped back. Ashley said nothing, as she stared at the crystal around her neck. She looked up, and saw Spyro smiling at her.

"What?" She asked, clueless.

"I took the liberty of looking at your memories and things, and I've made a prediction for your future."

When he said nothing more, she asked, "Do you mind sharing this information?"

But he shook his head, and said, "It's for me to know, and you to find out."

"Ugh, I hate how you got all Philosophical." Ashley said, with mock-rudeness.

Spyro laughed, and soon Ashley did too. After a moment, Spyro turned to her, and said, "Its time for you to go find out."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. She then stepped towards him, and embraced him in a hug.

"Thank you for being such a good friend, even though we only knew each other for a few days."

He said nothing, but hugged her back, wrapping his wings around her. She pulled away, and nodded again, before stepping away and waiting to be sent back.


	9. Chapter 6

**Alright, I'm sorry I had to leave my last chapter off like that, but I had other things I had to do, and I knew there would be no time for writing. Also sorry for to long wait, new job and stuff really gobbles up your time.**

 **Another note, this story has changed so much from my original plan. I thought I had the perfect set up for the story, but things happen, and if you change one small detail early on, it turns into a domino effect. I do have plans for another story after this, but I'm thinking it will come very slowly. I'm also thinking it will be centered less around fighting like this one… I don't know… Maybe, it's actually quite difficult to write a story not like this one.**

 **Anyways, here is the final chapter of the story…**

"What kind of name is that again?" Jerry asked for the third time, still not satisfied with the "He was a good friend" response.

Spyro sighed and said, with sadness in his voice, "I'd rather not tell just yet, it's a fairly painful memory."

The men in the crew nodded in understanding, but Ashley said quietly,

"Ha! You don't seem to remember our earlier conversations…"

Spyro glared at her, but said nothing.

"Alright, we have food!" Abu declared, pulling the stick with a large, skinned, unidentifiable animal on it. While Ashley and the other soldiers all sat down around the fire, grabbing a plate, knife, and fork, the dragons sat and waited. Mike noticed this, and asked,

"You three going to get some food?"

The three shook their heads, and Alex answered,

"No, we ate back at the city."

4 sets of human eyes turned towards him at those words.

"What city?" Mike asked, and Ashley replied,

"Its just a few miles south of here. Its enormous, and filled with… different creatures… and its where I had my encounter with those powerful officials I told you about."

Cynder spoke up, "Officials? They are… no, were, probably 3 of the most powerful creatures in our world! And you beat them all!"

Mike looked at Ashley again, and seeing her shy response, he knew it was true.

I will never understand the way women can be shy one moment, then the scariest thing you'll ever see in the next, He thought to himself, and then found himself thinking of his wife. He missed her. The smile disappeared from his face for a few moments. He pushed the thoughts aside, and smiled again.

This did not go unnoticed by the others, and they seemed to know what he was thinking about, and became sad. Ashley changed the subject,

"So, what are your plans?"

Mike thought a moment, then said, "Well, if we are welcome, I'd like to come see this city. There might be some better living conditions there than out here."

Spyro quickly spoke up, in an excited tone, he said,

"I know there is room for you! We would love to have you there!"

The way he said that, Cynder knew he had some sort of plan, and before Mike said anything, she cast him a glance that, aside from Spyro, only Ashley saw.

"Great! We can head out tomorrow around mid-day!" Mike said.

"Spyro, what else is there behind your idea?" Ashley asked, confusing him.

"How did yo-" He started off, shocked, but was interrupted,

"Get used to it. What else did you have planned?"

"Well, I thought that maybe we could make a better introduction with them. Something cool. Ya know, impress the citizens!"

Ashley didn't consider it necessary, but Mike did.

"Really? What did you have in mind?" He asked.

"I don't know, what can you do? I'm not aware of your capabilities…"

Mike thought for a few minutes. But then, Jerry spoke up, saying,

"How about we… I don't know… Stage an attack? Then we come in and kill the attackers? I mean, from what we've seen, these apes are pretty mean…"

Again, Ashley was completely against it, and she thought that Spyro would in no way accept it. But Mike and Spyro agreed instantly.

"Really? Spyro? You want to stage an attack on this city? What happens if we can't handle them?"

"Well, I could always just round up a few dozen, make them mad, and get them to attack the city." Spyro suggested, and it made Ashley even more skeptical of the idea.

"I don't suppose you have a back-up plan when this all goes wrong?" she said, with emphasis on the "when"

"I assume that thing over there can do things? Right?"

Now Ashley could see a little bit of reasoning in the plan, but was still against it. The problem was, she just couldn't think of a flaw in the plan. It would work perfectly for their needs, but it just seemed wrong. It was sneaky. She didn't like it. She sat down to try and think of a way to convince them not to do it.

While they were discussing it, Ashley over heard the words, "Ashley and Mike can fly in…"

"Excuse me?! FLY IN?!" She yelled, interrupting their conversations.

"Yes, we have parachutes." Jerry said.

"Why the hell does a TANK CREW have PARACHUTES!?" Ashley yelled as she began to panic.

Mike shrugged and said, "I don't know, must be standard issue or something." But the tone of his voice said that he knew they weren't.

"Seriously? We're all ok with the fact that somehow we ended up with parachutes?" She asked, and when she got no response, she just shook her head and sat down again.

"Something wrong Ashley?" Mike asked, and without thinking, Ashley responded,

"I don't like heights."

She realized what she said to late, and she waited for the response she knew would come. It never came. No one responded, but nodded in understanding. Ashley was confused, are she wondered why none of them had taken the chance to pick on her.

Mike noticed her confusion, and made an 'I'll tell you later' Gesture. She rolled her eyes, but said nothing further.

He didn't tell her later.

The next day, around mid-day…

"Alright, you ready Ashley?" were the words spoken through the radio she had.

Through clenched teeth, she growled, "I don't know if I'm excited I'll get to be on the ground again, or terrified that I have to be dropped to get there."

"Is that a yes?"

She said nothing more.

She opened her clenched eyes, and watched the sequence of drops. Because the Spyro and Cynder were not very big, they couldn't lift Ashley and Mike while loaded with their gear. The solution to this, was the fact that they could carry the two humans if they didn't have their packs and ammo, so they were going to be dropped with nothing but their cloths and a parachute. Meanwhile Alex, the larger dragon, would drop the gear, which was loaded into a crate. The next part would take extreme precision.

While the crate was falling, Mike and Ashley would intercept the crate while falling, and pull the essentials of their gear out, and then pull the chute on the crate. They would then pull their own, and float down to the city, and help defend.

It went against Ashley's moral code to stage an attack just for publicity, but even Spyro liked the idea.

So, here she was, 3,000 feet in the air, being carried by a dragoness she met mere days ago. She watched as Alex dropped the crate, and waited for the 3 second difference for her and Mike to be dropped. She counted it down in her head, and the moment she reached one, she was falling.

She resisted the urge to scream and panic, and tried to concentrate. She tried to look around, but saw only blackness. She began to panic again.

Then she realized her eyes were just closed.

She silently cursed herself for being such a fool. She couldn't concentrate still, and she began to grow angry with herself. She looked around, and suddenly felt a hand grab her arm. She whipped her head around and saw Mike. He was guiding her over to the falling box full of gear. She was relieved and embarrassed at the same time, relieved because he was helping her, and embarrassed because she needed him to help her.

They grabbed onto the straps on the crate, and hauled themselves onto it. She grabbed first for her vest, and locked her feet into the straps so she could use her hands. She wrapped the vest around her, and strapped it on.

Next, she went for her magazines. After the recent battle, she was low on ammo, but the crew members had plenty more for her to use. She strapped them into her vest and pockets one at a time, and by the time she was done, Mike was motioning to her that it was time to go. So, she quickly unstrapped her M16 and grabbed her pistol holster and Sword Sheath. Then, after strapping the holster to her waist, and shouldering her rifle and Sword-

She jumped off.

Mike was the one who was going to activate the chute on the package of extra ammunition, so Ashley just jumped off and continued.

By this point, they were close enough to the ground to see small creatures scurrying through streets towards the wall. She then looked to the wall, and saw that Spyro really did get some ape's attention. There were around 60 apes in the small clearing in front of the city.

However, as she watched, she noticed more movement at the tree-line to the southwest. When she looked closer, her heart nearly stopped.

There were more apes. Lots of them.

She cursed mentally, and tried to think of some way to notify Mike. She thought of the radio, but then realized that she reach her radio, and even if she could, the rushing wind would drown out her voice. Soon, she didn't have to warn Mike, as the small dark shapes emerged from the trees and ran forward.

The defending moles were moving back, to find a more defendable position, as the apes had already reached the gate. She watched one of the wider streets, as a group of cheetahs with bows tried to fend off the wave that was surging up the road. She leaned her body to begin moving towards that position.

She pulled her parachute about 300 feet above and behind the defenders, and made her way towards them. As she grew closer, she noticed one of them noticed her, and was watching her.

"Hey, uh… Captain? Do apes fly?" asked one cheetah, who had turned around to find his extra quiver.

"What?! Are you crazy or something? OF COURSE APES DON'T FLY!"

Ignoring the comment, the cheetah then asked, "Well then who is that?"

The lead cheetah turned around for a moment, and then turned back to the fight. A moment later, he whipped back around. The 13 others turned around as well, and they all froze.

Ashley watched as one by one, they all turned to watch her.

"NO! YOU FOOLS! KEEP FIGHTING!" She yelled at them, but they didn't hear her. She shook her head in annoyance, then angled herself to a different position. She was going to land just infront of them, rather than behind them.

She gauged the time and distance before the Apes would reach the cheetahs, and estimated she would reach them with plenty of time.

5 seconds later, she realized she had miscalculated.

She would get there mere seconds before the Apes reached the Cheetahs. She counted the feet until she reached them,

"100…80…60…40…20...10!"

She cut the straps on her chute, and landed on the ground with a roll. She looked up to see her last second plan had worked, and the now empty parachute had went right into the wave of apes, blinding, tripping, and utterly confusing the apes.

But the confusion passed quickly, and one raised his sword. The ape fell instantly, along with 3 more as Ashley fired at them a few times. This caused the Cheetahs to snap back to the battle, and some grabbed swords and shields to form a wall, while others increased their distance to keep shooting with their bows.

Ashley did neither.

She jumped over the wall of shields, right into the battle. She shot at all the apes she could, before her magazine went empty. She tossed her empty gun to one of the Cheetahs and said,

"Don't loose that!"

She went to draw her sword, but realized she didn't have it. It must have fallen off while I was flying, she thought as she drew her knife.

Back to the basics, I guess, she thought, and began slashing at any ape that got to close. They were beginning to over-whelm her, when she heard gunshots behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was, and suddenly Mike was right next to her. He shot until the apes were driven back a good distance, then held out her sword and said,

"You dropped something!"

She took the sword, but then he threw a clip in the air. She caught it, and pointed at the Cheetah she had given her gun to.

"Do you know how to use that?" she yelled

"No." the cheetah replied with a feminine voice.

"You'd best figure it out!" She said, and threw the clip to the cheetah.

Ashley didn't wait for anything else, and turned back towards Mike and drew her sword. The sound of the metal along leather as she drew it was surprisingly just as comforting as the clicking sound of a new clip being loaded into a rifle.

She smiled slightly, and ran after Mike, who was advancing on the now retreating apes.

Scene break

"Sir, the Human Female is back, and she has friends! They have pushed your forces back from the Temple!" Called an Ape, his voice full of fear.

There was a low growl, and in an instant, the ape was decapitated.

"If you want something done, you do it yourself." Said a dark voice, before the sound of wings could be heard, along with a menacing roar.

Scene break

"What was that?" Ashley said, more to herself than anyone else.

"I didn't hear anything, but keep pushing them back, we've almost got them out!" Mike called.

Ashley looked to her right, and saw Spyro running over with Cynder not far behind.

"We've pushed them back all across the city, this is the last, and by the looks of it, the largest breach."

"We've got it under cont- WOAH!" He yelled, jumping in the air, as a bullet hit the rock next to his foot. He turned and looked at the cheetah who was given Ashley's gun. The cheetah froze, with a guilty look on her face. Spyro turned towards Ashley, as Mike stormed off yelling curses towards the Cheetah.

Ashley was still busy fighting off a few apes when he reached her. He waited for her to finish them, and she turned to him saying sarcastically,

"Thanks for the help."

He ignored it, and said, "Be ready for something big."

"What?" she said, utterly confused.

"I don't know, but I feel something big coming our way."

She nodded, and walked over to the Cheetah that held her gun. She was watching Ashley, and now handed her the rifle without needing to be told. She walked over to the supply crate that was dropped off closer to the front line by Alex, and grabbed a few clips and a grenade.

She walked back over to Mike, who still had an angry look.

"Cheer up, Mike! She wouldn't be the first girl to try to kill you!" She joked, but only furthered his angry mood.

"Fine, be that way. Just make sure your ready, Spyro seems to think we have more trouble coming."

"I don't care what Spyro thinks. Besides, we've already one, nothing else is going to-"

The ground shook, and there was a deep rumble. It was followed by a massive roar, and yells of panic.

"You were saying?" Ashley said, as she turned around and ran back around the corner. Before she turned the corner, she saw Cynder there, staring, completely frozen.

"What's going on Cynder?" Mike asked, but got no response. They looked in the direction she was, and saw a quite confusing sight.

They saw what looked like Spyro fighting a larger, and slightly darker version of himself. And he was loosing.

Confused as they were, they ran forward, just in time for Spyro to be thrown into them. Ashley heard a long moan, and she looked at Mike, who was tangled up with Spyro on top of him.

"Get off" he wheezed.

"Sorry." He said, with anger in his voice, but not towards Mike, as he got off.

"Spyro, want to introduce us to your friend? And why Cynder is entirely frozen?"

But before he could speak, the dragon said, with a dark, booming voice,

"This is not your fight, soldier. Leave these worthless beings to me, and you will be spared."

"Excuse me?" she said, confusing the dragon slightly, "You really think we will just abandon them? After the blood I've spilt for them, the lives I've taken, the lives I've saved, you really think that a little power show will get me to back down?" Her voice was beginning to rise, as anger filled her, "I've lost too much, as well as gained too much, to back down now. I've fought alongside them the last few-"

She stopped. It hit her then, that she had done all this, in a matter of weeks. She beat the crap out of some guards, fell in love with one of those guards, saved a city, beat up the leaders of the city, became friends with those leaders, and met Spyro and Cynder. All over the course of less than 3 weeks. Her mind fluttered, and she was full of pride.

But now she was back to saving the city again, after SHE put it in danger again. Her heart felt heavy, and her mind slow. She looked back at the dragon, and tried to think of words.

She couldn't.

Then there was a figure next to her. It was Mike, and he spoke,

"I haven't done nearly as much as she has, but I'm standing with her, until death, or victory."

Now Alex appeared on her left.

"As will I."

Now Spyro was next to Mike,

"Me too."

Cynder jumped up next to Spyro, and nodded, but said nothing.

Now, there was another dragon who had shown up. It was the Pink Dragoness she saw at the fight in the forest. The dragoness nodded to Ashley and said,

"I'm with you too."

By now, there were random Moles and cheetahs showing up, forming line after line, all saying that they were in too.

Ashley looked around with a large grin on her face, her spirits lifted. She turned her attention back to the large dragon, and said,

"We stand Shoulder to shoulder. You can face us, or run away. Either way, we will still be here."

The dragon snarled and roared, "You stand against your deaths!" and charged forward like lightning, and right at Ashley. She didn't even have enough time to raise her gun.

An enormous boom rang out across the narrow street, and an explosion went off at the dragon's feet, consuming him in fire and smoke.

They all turned around to see the Tank at the end of the street, a trail of smoke coming out of the barrel. The top hatch opened up, and there was Abu cheering. There was nothing but Abu cheering for a moment, then the rest joined in. All, but Ashley, Cynder, and Spyro.

A fireball flew out of the smoke, and hit the Tank dead-center. It went up in a fiery explosion, and all went silent, before a deep chuckle was heard from the smoke.

Ashley acted quickly, and yelled,

"All of you, get them out of that tank! Mike, Spyro and Cynder, with me! Let's give this bastard hell!"

She fired into the smoke when it began to clear, but a purple tail flew out and knocked her into the side of a building. She was winded, and her shoulder hurt, but otherwise ok. She looked up, and saw Mike firing at the dragon now that the smoke cleared, and Spyro launched fireballs at the dragon. Cynder was no where to be seen, and it worried Ashley for a moment, but then she saw her appear on the building behind the dragon, and launch off.

She landed on the dragon's back, and slashed into it with claws and tail. The dragon reared back, exposing his un-protected underside. He knocked her off with his tail, but not after Mike and Spyro hit him good a few times. He turned his attention to them, and charged at them, seemingly not effected by the bullets and fireballs.

Mike wasn't fast enough, and was thrown into a wall with a loud crack. Spyro, however, dogged the attack, and slashed at the dragon's legs. He too, was thrown aside.

By now, Ashley was on her feet, sword drawn, and advancing. The dragon turned towards her, and watched as she walked closer. She stopped about 15 feet away, and waited. The watched each other for some 5 minutes.

Ashley's real plan behind this, was to give the others time to recover. It worked, as she saw Spyro, and Mike stand, and seconds later, Cynder too.

Spyro and Mike opened fire again, confusing the dragon. Ashley took the advantage, and ran towards the dragon. She came within striking distance, and a moment later, she was on the ground 30 feet away again. She looked up, and saw the dragon advancing on Mike and Spyro. This time, Mike was expecting an attack.

He still wasn't fast enough.

The dragon swiped at him with his claws, and caught Mike on the shoulder, disrupting his move and tossing him to the ground. He tried to stand back up, but as soon as he did, the dragon impaled him with this tail.

Ashley gasped, and froze. Fear clutched her heart with a cold grasp, and sadness filled her mind.

The dragon ripped his tail out of him, and roared in triumph. He began to walk towards Spyro, when he stopped. Ashley looked back at Mike, as he struggled to his feet. He drew his pistol, and fired 3 times before the dragon stabbed him again, this time much deeper. As Mike fell to his knees, he raised his pistol again, and fired twice more, and his arm fell limp next to his side, and he fell.

Suddenly, Spyro was on the dragon, tearing into him with teeth and claws. The dragon roared in pain, and then Cynder joined in, slashing at his legs and under-belly with her claws and tail.

Ashley stood now, and advanced to join in on the onslaught. She came within 10 feet, before Cynder was thrown off, and into her. They collided, and fell to the ground. They struggled to un-tangle themselves, and stand. When they finally succeeded, they looked over at the dragon.

The dragon had Spyro pinned to the ground, and was smiling at them. In an instant, his tail went through Spyro's chest.

Cynder screamed. It was not words she screamed, but just one long yell. Ashley was shocked. She hadn't expected the young dragon to go out so suddenly. Her heart was heavy again. A moment later, she was filled with anger. This one dragon was tearing down everything she had done.

She wouldn't let him do this.

She ran forward, with Cynder not far behind. The dragon shot his tail at her, and she jumped over it. As she jumped, she sliced downwards, cutting the tip of his tail off. There was a deafening roar, but she ran the final few feet and began cutting his sides with Cynder.

By now, his moves were predictable, but Cynder was far to angry to see it. She was thrown into a wall, and there was a crack. She didn't get up.

Ashley backed off for a moment, as she realized that she was the last one.

"See? Not even with 4 of you could you beat me. Your alone now."

It hit Ashley then. She laughed a little, and said,

"Ya know what your problem is? You keep forgetting one simple thing: We are never alone."

And with that, a dozen arrows hit the Dragon, most of them landing in bullet wounds, some bouncing off his scales. He roared in pain again, and she charged forward, ignoring the Arrows from the line of Cheetahs.

Volly after volly hit the Dragon, as she cut his legs and under side. Realizing that this wasn't doing damage, she climbed up his tail, and moved up his back, slicing at wings along the way. Before she reached his neck, one of the wings flew at her, and flung her to the side.

She landed on her right side, and flinched as something jabbed her.

The grenade! She screamed in her head, as she stood up, and grabbed it. She walked over to the dragon, who was going after the archers.

"Hey! Purple guy!" She yelled. The dragon stopped and looked at her.

"Purple is a girly color." Is all she said. The dragon's eyes filled with fury, and he walked over to her.

"What are you going to do? Burn me alive?" she said, hoping he would take the bait.

The dragon thought a second, before opening his mouth, and said, "Yes."

He came a little closer, before taking a deep breath.

Ashley pulled the pin.

The dragon opened his mouth, and Ashley tossed the grenade right down his throat. The dragon was shocked for a moment, but only for a few seconds, because the grenade then blew up.

His body did not fly apart in a bloody mess like she thought he would, but instead, a little smoke came out of his mouth, and his eyes went wide with fear.

The dragon then fell over, and Ashley watched as the fear slowly left his eyes, and was replaced by death.

She sat there, staring at the dead dragon for an amount of time she did not know. But soon, a cheetah shook her shoulder, and brought her back.

"Hmm? What's going on? Did we win? Where's Spyro? And Cynder? Where is she?" she said very quickly, making the cheetah stop for a moment.

"Well… Spyro is… dead… but at least Malefor is also dead."

"What about Cynder? Where is she?"

The cheetah looked around, searching for a moment, before her eyes stopped on something, and widened.

"Well… uh, she's currently marching over here, with and enraged look on her face."

"What?" Ashley asked, but got no further, as the cheetah was pushed aside, and Ashley was dragged to her feet. She twisted her head around to meet Cynder's very angry face.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S DEAD!" She screamed, and threw her into a wall. Before either could do anything, Alex was between them, yelling,

"Cynder! Stop it! This is not her fault, nor is it yours!"

"If not her, then who?" she asked, and when Alex didn't respond, she screamed, "WHO?! Who is at fault for this?! It has to be her!"

Alex knew who's fault it was, as Spyro agreed to the plan. He also knew not to her this.

Ashley was quiet through this whole process.

"It was Malefor's fault. He is this one who killed him."

"He wouldn't have been here without her! None of this would have happened without her here!"

He opened his mouth to speak, but Ashley spoke first.

"She's right. If I weren't here, none of this would have happened."

"No! Ashley! Don't say that!"

"But its true." She said quietly.

"You should leave." Cynder said, "and not come back unless you have Spyro with you."

"Shut it Cynder!" Alex roared, and turned back to Ashley, but she was gone.

"Ashley?! NO! Don't leave me! Where are you?!" He yelled, frantically looking for her. But she was gone.

With Ashley…

She slipped away while he was looking at Cynder, right into an ally. She made her way to her house-

Funny, she thought, I call it my house now.

She walked in the door, and stopped. She looked around, and asked herself aloud,

"Am I really going to do this?"

She shook her head, and sat down on a chair, and waited. She knew the answer would come to her eventually. Or, at least she thought she knew. It was obvious that Alex wouldn't let her leave, and it was also obvious that Cynder wouldn't let her stay. She sighed loudly, and put her head in her hands.

Why is Cynder so mad? She thought to herself. Then it hit her. Her earlier realization hit her hard, but this one… this one hit her like a freight train.

They were all dead. Mike, Abu, Jerry, Spyro, and even the Private that she never took the time to get to know! And all because of her.

"I didn't even know his name." She said to herself.

"My name is Gerald." Said a young voice, startling her. She looked up, and saw 2 figures; The Female Cheetah she kept seeing, and the priv- No, Gerald. She smiled, and rushed to her feet.

Both were covered in dirt, but Gerald had some bad burns all over his body, even places his uniform had burned away, leaving pink, raw flesh.

She rushed over, and helped him into a chair. He sat down with a wince, and relaxed a little.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened inside that tank?"

He sighed shakily, and said,

"Well, that god damned fireball hit the nose of the barrel, igniting the shell inside the barrel. It blew, and shot fire back inside the cabin of the Tank where Abu was. He went up in flames instantly, but I only got hit a little bit by the fire that came down to the floor."

"Only got hit a little bit?! Do you realize that, with these burns, your lucky to be alive?!"

He looked slightly shocked, as he said,

"Huh, well, I was dragged out soon enough to see your little argument with Cynder. Just know, it wasn't your fault. All of us agreed to the plan, it was our fault." But before she said anything, he added, "And I'll always follow you, regardless of the danger. That's how Mike felt too, and I'm sure Spyro felt the same."

"It doesn't make a difference, Cynder wants me out of here. She thinks it was my fault. I still have to leave."

"Then I'm with you. Stay or go, I've got your back."

She sighed, and put a hand on his shoulder, on a place that wasn't burned, and said, "No, this is my punishment. You stay here, get healed up, and find a way to get back home."

"What? Did you not just hear me?"

"I did, and I need you to do this, someone has to tell their families of what happened, of who they were." Still seeing reluctance in his eyes, she added, "I'll be fine, I've survived this long without you guys."

He shook his head slightly, and said, "Why do I get the feeling your not going out there just to Survive?"

She shrugged and smiled, saying, "Well, you must know me better than you think."

He laughed a moment, then winced in pain again. He became serious, and said,

"Ashley, don't do anything stupid. I'm coming back for you, don't make this all for nothing, please. Survive."

She smiled, and nodded, but in her mind, she knew her plans didn't involve her being careful.

"I'll try." She said. It wasn't a lie, she really would try too survive… after putting herself in a dangerous position. Her plan…

To avenge Spyro in any way she can. She was going out there to fight the beings that started it all: The apes.

She walked out the door, and looked around. She saw no one, and began walking down the street towards the entrance to the city.

As she walked, she noticed that slowly, others began to appear in doorways and windows. They said nothing, but almost all of them had seen her interaction with Cynder.

They joined her, following without a word. She kept walking, and as she did, more of the civilians joined in behind her.

Eventually, she came within sight of the City gate. And Alex. He was waiting infront of the gate, watching her approach.

"Don't try to stop me." She warned, as she stopped 20 feet away.

He sighed, and asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"You know why." She responded evenly.

He shook his head slowly, and moved to the side with his head hung in sorrow. She walked toward the gated and stopped inside it. She dropped the gun she had been carrying, and the Magazines in her pockets. She was now only armed with her sword, and Pistol.

She heard Cynder yell behind her, "Don't come back!"

She walked out the gate.

She almost made it to the edge of the clearing, when she saw movement at the tree line. She stopped, and looked back at the crowd that had formed as she left, and searched for Alex. She didn't see him, and sighed, before turning back to the trees, and drawing her sword.

As the sword came free, there was the comforting sound of Leather on Metal. The movement stopped, and then all at once, began moving right at her. Dozens of apes came back out.

Her mind instinctively went to try and figure out where they kept coming from, but stopped herself, deciding it wasn't important.

She shouted an wordless battle cry, and charged the closest ape. They fell before her, one by one. But they kept coming. More and more of them appeared, and again, her mind tried to figure out where they were coming from.

She just finished slicing open the chest of an ape, when she felt a burning pain in her right leg. She looked down, and saw an arrow dug into her leg. She reached down to pull it out, when another hit the left part of her chest, missing her heart by inches. A second later, a third arrow hit the right part of her chest just below the shoulder. Bit this time, the bones absorbed much of the damage.

She looked down again, and pulled out the arrow to her right easily, but still painfully. However, not as painful as the next one. But her adrenaline was going, and she was too determined to give up now. She pulled it clean out, and looked at the one on her leg. She knew this one wouldn't come out easily.

New POV.

Alex watched from the back of the crowd, as Ashley was hit with 3 arrows. He watched, as she slowly pulled two of them out. The apes sat watching, rather than attacking her.

He watched, as she put her hands around the arrow, and pulled slightly. She instantly went to her knees with a cry of pain.

His heart was breaking.

She looked up, and grasped the arrow again, and with one massive shout, she pulled the arrow free. An instant later, she was up, slashing and hacking at the apes, as they sat there, confused at how she did this.

While her attacks were vicious, she was slow, and bleeding. And she knew it. She knew she would bleed to death. And yet she fought on. She fought with all the ferocity she could muster. She cut into ape after ape.

She didn't bother counting, she wasn't even aware of how many there were around her. She finished off one ape, and as it fell, she saw behind it, the ape with a bow

She staggered back as an arrow slammed into the center of her chest. She advanced toward the ape, at a walking pace, as the ape calmly pulled another arrow, notched it, and drew back.

She staggered again, as another arrow hit her chest. She went to one knee, as she struggled to breath. A moment later, she found the energy to go on, and stood, walking towards the Ape once more. She saw fear in its eyes, as it realized it had no room to retreat backwards while it reloaded. The ape quickly reloaded, and drew back, and fired. It hit her.

She stopped, just 5 feet away from her target. She stood, and watched, as the ape sneered. She took one step, then another, and fell to her knees. She was falling forward, and the ape thought he had won.

The ape failed to see the knife she held, and as she fell, she reached up, and buried the knife in its stomach. She didn't see the result, but managed to flip onto her back, and look at the sky. This time, she's didn't have the feeling that she would wake up right here perfectly fine.

She felt cold.

Then she felt warm.

Then it all went black.

A moment later, she opened her eyes, and found herself in her home. Not the crappy apartment she had, but the home of her childhood.

"Wow, these buildings are strange compared to ours, but I can see why you like them." Said a voice.

She spun her head around, and saw Spyro sitting on a couch looking around.

"What is this?" She asked, confused.

"Oh, I looked into some of your memories to find this. I have to talk to you."

"But I d-" she stopped, as she remembered.

"I'm dead. This is death, isn't it? A punishment. I have to be reminded of what I did forever."

Now Spyro looked confused, and he shook his head, "No. This isn't a punishment, I have to talk with you."

Ashley nodded, but was still confused.

"Ok, what do you need to talk about?"

"Well, Cynder isn't herself right now… Malefor did something to her." Ashley's attention was caught, and she began to believe that this was real.

"What? When?" Ashley asked

"While you guys were off getting more guns, he snuck up behind her, and… Put something in her brain… Awakened something she had been suppressing for a long time."

"That explains quite a lot…"

"Yes, and well… I need to ask one last thing of you, Ashley."

"Anything."

"I need you to take these two things-" He held out a necklace, and a small glass bottle, "One is the cure to Cynder's… Condition, and the other… Well, you must discover that for yourself."

She cautiously took the bottle in one hand, and put the necklace on. Spyro took a step forward, and put one claw on the necklace. Ashley decided now to take a look at the necklace.

It was medium sized, and looked like it was made of Silver. It had a large, grey Gem in the center.

Not very Fashionable, She thought to herself, until Spyro closed his eyes, and touched his claw to the gem. It began to change colors; every color of the rainbow, and more. It started slowly, but then repeated. It repeated again, and again, and again, increasing in speed each time. Soon, it was changing so fast, that Ashley couldn't distinguish between the colors, it looked strange to Ashley…

Like it was None of the colors, and All of them at the same time.

Spyro removed his claw, and stepped back. Ashley said nothing, as she stared at the crystal around her neck. She looked up, and saw Spyro smiling at her.

"What?" She asked, clueless.

"I took the liberty of looking at your memories and things, and I've made a prediction for your future."

When he said nothing more, she asked, "Do you mind sharing this information?"

But he shook his head, and said, "It's for me to know, and you to find out."

"Ugh, I hate how you got all Philosophical." Ashley said, with mock-rudeness.

Spyro laughed, and soon Ashley did too. After a moment, Spyro turned back to her, and said, "Its time for you to go find out."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. She then stepped towards him, and embraced him in a hug.

"Thank you for being such a good friend, even though we only knew each other for a few days."

He said nothing, but hugged her back, wrapping his wings around her. She pulled away, and nodded again, before stepping away and waiting to be sent back.

Just an FYI, this is something to be seen as FRIENDS doing together

She awoke in an instant, and noticed a wet feeling on her cheek. She opened her eyes, and saw a dog looking down at her.

"Hey there, girl." She said soothingly, as she reached up and scruffled the fir between the dog's ears. She sat up, and the dog wagged her tail.

Ashley reached for her neck to see if there was still a necklace there. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt the cool Metal on her fingers. Then she realized that there was supposed to be something in her hand, but there wasn't. She began to panic, and searched the ground frantically for the small glass bottle. Just when she thought it was gone, she felt something in her pocket. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, and reached into her pocket.

She pulled out a bullet casing.

She began to panic again.

Then she felt her other pocket.

She pulled out the small glass bottle.

She stood up, and looked around her, at the destruction she had caused. She sighed, and began walking back towards the city. At first she thought about leaving Ignitus there, but she decided to bring her with.

Another note, I understand that maybe giving the dog the name Ignitus was a bad idea… and for multiple reasons… But it's too late to change it now, so if you don't like it, call the dog what-ever you want, but I will continue to use Ignitus.

The dog watched her for a moment, but then ran forward when Ashley gave a whistle. Together, they made their way back to the city.

Scene Break

"God Damn, these things keep coming out of no-where!" Gerald said, as he helped to push the large Temple Door shut.

There was another ape army that seemingly materialized out of thin air, and took them by surprise, and also forcing them to retreat back to the Large Temple. Once they had the doors locked, they began to plan on how to get out of there, because while they were pretty sure the apes couldn't get in, they also couldn't get out.

There was a loud clang, and the door shuddered.

"What was that?" Asked one of the Cheetahs.

"That sounded like a Battering Ram." Gerald said, but it was just a guess. In fact, he had never really even seen a battering ram.

Boom!

It rang out again, this time louder, and the door shook much more violently.

"How long will this door last?" Another Cheetah asked.

"By the looks of it, 5 Minutes, probably less. So, lets get a defensive line up here! We aren't going to lose now! Look how far we've come, how much danger we have over-come!"

"The only reason we over-came them was because of Ashley." Alex pointed out.

Gerald was hoping for that response, and he said

"Exactly! So it's time to prove that we can do things without help. To show that we are strong. To know that her fight was not wasted!"

Scene back to Ashley.

She watched from the doorway of a home near the Temple, as what looked like around 60 apes were trying to breach the large doors with a large piece of wood. She realized she would have to act fast, or they would get into the building. And if they made it in there, it could turn into a massacre real quick.

She ducked back behind the ledge, and held the necklace in her palm.

"How do I get this to work, and what does it do?" She asked, but the only response she got, was a quiet whine from the dog.

She heard a very quiet voice in the back of her head, Don't think about it, it will come to you, but only if you allow it. You can't force it to obey you.

She sighed, and put the necklace around her neck, and stepped out from cover. She waked towards the apes, completely unarmed. But entirely Confident. She felt power surging through her, and it came from the necklace.

Just one last Scene Break, Sorry about all these, but I thought it necessary.

They all watched the door, as the rhythmic pound on the door was the only thing they focused on. Well, aside from their families, which were standing right behind them. At first, they tried to usher the un-armed into rooms to hide in, but they all refused, stating that they had complete confidence.

Then it stopped.

They all turned their heads to the door. Even Cynder, who had been laying in the back of the temple, moved towards the door. There were yells of panic, and then some of pain, from outside. One guard carefully, unlocked to door, and before Alex could stop him, cracked open the door a little to peer out.

The mole froze instantly.

"What do you see?" Alex asked, but the mole just shook his head, and said, "See for yourself." And then swung the door open. They were all shocked by what they saw.

There was Ashley, and some sort of other small brown creature, fighting off apes. Ashley glanced over, and winked at Alex. She held her sword with both hands, and began blocking sword strokes from apes, as they desperately tried to kill her.

She smiled evilly when she heard one yell, "How? How did she survive that?!"

She turned to the ape that had the bow. She smiled even more when she saw the ape was terrified.

"It's a demon!" One ape yelled, and began to run down the street. The rest only froze and stared at her.

She stared back, and eventually most of them slowly backed off. Slowly at first, walking backwards, then they turned and began running down the road. Only about a dozen remained.

These ones weren't like the others, she realized. They were much bigger, more muscular, had better weapons, and by the way they held them, more training. Her smile disappeared as she realized these guys were not to be taken lightly, and one wrong move could result in death.

But something was bothering her. It was a question at the back of her mind, and she considered discarding it, but instead decided to focus on it.

Where did they come from? Was the question. She hadn't seen them during ANY of the fights she had been through. In any of those battles, these guys would have made all the difference, and yet they were not there.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed they began to move. They slowly surrounded her, and rotated around in a circle watching her.

She stood there with her sword at her side, strategizing. They had numbers, coordination, and superior weapons. Yet somehow, she knew she still outmatched them.

One struck at her, stabbing at her left side. She quickly parried, flicking the sword to the side. She saw movement to her right, and flicked her sword out again, catching the new attacker on the wrist. She turned a 180 and brought her sword up above her head at a horizontal angle to block and overhand stroke, and followed it up with a quick punch to the apes jaw.

That's when all order fell away, and chaos broke loose.

She stepped backwards as 2 apes did an overhand strike, and as they stumbled forward, she grabbed both their heads, and bashed them together. They fell to the ground, and she quickly turned about with her sword out, and slashed the chest of another. The apes did not stop their assault.

One tried to stab her from behind, while another did an overhand strike from her right. She spun to her right and forward, using the momentum of the spin to send her sword slashing out horizontally into the ape's neck, only after it's sword hit the other ape's sword.

The other ape, not meeting any resistance with his blade, and his sword being struck down to the ground, fell forward and met the edge of Ashley's blade. Another came at her with a horizontal stroke. The put much more force behind the strike than Ashley expected, and it pushed her backwards, opening her up for a strike from behind. The apes took the opportunity, and slashed her horizontally across the back.

She grunted in pain, but did not scream. She recovered quickly, obviously much faster than the ape thought she would. She swung around to face the ape, and stabbed it through the chest. Unfortunately, her sword got stuck.

She didn't waste time trying to pull it free, but released it and turned to face the remaining 7, unarmed.

Or so they thought.

The apes began towards her, all with smirks. Ashley began to think that she was far out matched, and that even if she could take out a few more, they would eventually overpower her.

Only one way to find out, she thought. She charged forward, and the one she charged tried to stab straight at her. She spun just before the tip connected, using her shoulder to push it to the side. She timed it a little off, and received a cut, but was not stabbed.

She continued the spin, used the momentum, and hit the ape in the face. It staggered backwards, and she finished the ape off with a lightning fast uppercut to the jaw. The ape's eyes glazed, and he fell backward and hit the ground with a thud.

She quickly spun around to face the others, but immediately ducked to avoid a sword. As she came back up, she hit the ape in the gut. She couldn't finish him, because another came at her from the left, so she just kicked it making it stagger back, and turned to the new one.

They stared at each other for a few moments, each studying the other. Then, Ashley heard moment behind her, and quickly rolled to the side. It was a clumsy roll, and she nearly lost her balance when coming to her feet. She turned, and saw an ape preparing a downward strike on her head. She only had time to put her hands up to try to block the sword. At the last moment, the ape changed the strike, only slicing her forearm. The ape quickly reversed the direction, hitting her on the face.

She fell backwards, and hit the ground. Before she could recover, the ape was on top of her, holding a knife above her chest. She put her hands up, and began to struggle against the downward push of the knife.

She couldn't push it back, it came slowly down on her chest, one centimeter at a time. She desperately used all her strength, and it wasn't enough. She felt like she should just give up. Just let go, and allow the knife to kill her quickly. But she continued her struggle.

The knife was now touching her chest, and as it went down a little more, she dealt the razor Sharp knife puncture her skin and draw blood.

In that moment, she saw the ape, it's evil grin, and a knife. The next moment, it was gone, and instantly replaced by blue sky.

Confused, she sat up and looked around. She saw Alex ontop of the ape that was just on her, as he tore it's throat out. He turned to her quickly, and smiled. He quickly turned to the remaining apes, and snarled. The apes began to advance on him, but before they reached him, there were arrows flying through the air and landing in their chests, killing 2 more. The remaining 3 looked around, and with one unspoken agreement, turned and ran.

Ashley stood up, but was almost instantly knocked the ground again. It was violent and painful. She looked around, confused as to who attacked her. She instantly sighted Cynder, who was in a battle stance about 5 Feet away, and with tears in her eyes.

"I said not to come back!" She screamed.

Alex ran forward, but Ashley held out a hand motioning for him to stop. He was about to protest, but he saw the look in her eyes, and stopped.

Ashley knew that if he intervened now, it would end in a fight. There had been enough fighting. Ashley was sick of it by now, plus Cynder was a friend.

"Take it easy Cynder, I'm here for a reason." She said softly.

Cynder dropped her head and shook violently in pain. She looked back up, and Ashley could see it in her eyes: She was fighting it. What ever "It" was, she was fighting it. But she was loosing. Ashley could see she was about to loose it, and called to Alex,

"Alex, you need to get all of these people out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!" She hissed urgently.

"Ok, but I'm coming back for you." He said, and began telling people to go home, get on repairs, to go anywhere but here. Ashley turned her attention back to Cynder, who was groaning with her head in her paws.

"Come on Cynder, fight it!" Ashley said encouragingly, but mistakenly added, "Spyro would want you too!"

She lost it. Her head snapped up, and she growled, "He's dead! And its because of you!" and she then lunged at her. Ashley ducked out of the way, but not completely. She got hit with her claw, and it raked down her back. She screamed in pain, but recovered.

I need to get her into a closer space, or I won't get close enough to give her the liq-

THE LIQUID! It was only in a glass bottle, and Ashley feared it may have broke. She quickly reached into her pocket, and pulled it out with a sigh of relief. Cynder noticed the bottle, but dismissed it casually and focused on Ashley, who was trying to figure out how to get this liquid into Cynder. Spyro hadn't given her instructions, or even what the damn substance was!

She thought furiously, dismissing thought after though, until her mind wandered back to the fight against the dragon Malefor. She quickly pushed the thoughts aside, but then realized that they had the answer! She threw the grenade down his throat, maybe she could…

She got no further, as Cynder lunged again. Ashley was caught completely off guard, and Cynder hit her directly. Ashley landed on the ground, but rolled sideways, just as Cynder's sharp tail slammed down next to her. Ashley was on her feet in an instant, trying to distance herself from Cynder, but she only ran after her.

Ashley looked around, trying to find something to help her. She ran inside one of the homes, crashing through the door with her shoulder. She looked around quickly, and found a small window. She ran and jumped through it, just in time for Cynder to walk in and not see it. Cynder kept running out the back door.

Ashley took the moment to catch her breath, and thought about how she would do this. She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't notice when Cynder backtracked her steps. She was snapped back by a low growl, and she snapped around to see Cynder.

However, it wasn't Cynder growling. It was the large brown dog standing behind Cynder. Cynder turned around and growled back. Ashley took the opportunity.

She ran forward, and when she reached Cynder, she grabbed the dragoness' horn, and pulled her around. In one swift movement, she opened the bottle, and pulled down on the horn, making Her mouth open.

Then Cynder smacked the bottle out of her hand.

Ashley's heart lurched, as the bottle flew away. Time seemed to slow exponentially, and she watched helplessly as the bottle fell.

Then another creature entered the picture. Alex came up beside her and caught the bottle. Ashley stared at him in disbelief. He saw this, and smiled, saying, "I told you I would come back for you."

She nodded, and he asked,

"Well, what do we do with this?"

Ashley snapped back to what was happening, and cursed quietly before saying, "Help me hold her down!"

They barely managed to hold her down long enough for Alex to force her to drink it. Ashley watched, and the moment the liquid hit her tongue she was expecting an instant reaction. She realized it was wishful thinking, and they would probably have to deal with an Angry Cynder for a few more hours.

She was proven wrong, when just 20 minutes later, Cynder was no longer fighting, but asleep.

Ashley sighed with relief, and dropped back onto the wall behind her.

"You look exhausted." She heard Alex say.

"Wall, what do you expect from a girl who killed a hundred apes, and an evil dragon, then died, then killed another few dozen apes?"

He chuckled and said nothing more, but just curled up beside her.

Time froze again, but not literally, it was more like so many things hit her senses at the same time.

It was so peaceful. Well, aside from the dozens of ape corpses on the ground, it was beautiful. White, fluffy clouds drifted lazily across the deep blue sky. There was a soft breeze of cool, fresh air. She heard birds singing in the distance, and she heard Alex's rhythmic breathing, but otherwise it was silent.

But most importantly, she felt at peace. Like she had finally reached the end of her journey. Like she had accomplished everything she was meant to do in her life. She was happy. The moment couldn't have been more perfect for her.

Everything was going to be ok.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was quiet.

Nothing was fighting.

She was at peace.


	10. FINAL NOTE!

**Wow! That was a long chapter, almost 10,000 words! Again, I'm ssorry for the wait, but I hit a bump in the road. And no, I don't mean in story writing, I mean in life. I actually hit a bit of depression and anxiety (Which is a terrible combination) and my chapter became kind of dark, and gloomy. But I caught it before publishing it, and retyped it.**

 **Anyways, I know I said I would make another, but I'm going to take a break first. I'm going to try another type of story, and I honestly don't know how well this will go... just don't judge me yet...**

 **I was thinking about maybe doing an Alpha and Omega type of story, but throw a human into the mix. I got the idea while looking at some of YOUR favorited stories, and saw some with great story line, but poor grammer and spelling, and alltogether far to rushed.**

 **And if your wondering why I even know of this movie, I have one question for you: Do you have a baby Sister?**

 **If you answered yes to that, and you STILL don't understand, I can't help you. No one can. If you answered no to that, well... I went with my youger sister, who was 8 at the time, to the movie theatre to watch it. I went, because my parents were working, and I could drive and had money.**

 **We bought the movie 2 weeks later, and I had to watch it with her multiple times. I've seen that movie atleast 2 dozen times. It is burned into my mind, even after these years after it came out.**

 **ANY WAYS, I just thought that maybe I would write one... I have a small plan going, and I think It could be entertaining. Again, don't judge me to harshly please, I'm sorry for having a younger sister and trying to take care of her.**

 **SERRA IF YOU ARE READING THIS, OR THE NOTE I WILL HAVE FOR YOU AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST CHAPTER, I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR TABLET! GO TO BED! OR IF YOUR AT SCHOOL, GET TO WORK! AND IF YOUR SITTING WITH NOTHING TO DO...Go find something to do? I don't know...**


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